Hideki Kamiya Left Platinum Games To Continue Making The Games He Wants

Speaking to IGN, founder of Platinum Games and Devil May Cry/Bayonetta director Hideki Kamiya gave more insight into his decision to leave Platinum Games. According to Kamiya-san, Platinum Games was putting more of its focus into growing as a company, saying that he feels no interest in growing a company for the sake of corporate growth.

PlatinumGames has placed a priority on growing as a company. But I personally have no interest in growing a company for the sake of corporate growth. The desire to make interesting games is the first step for me, so I want to stay true to that.”

Kamiya-san also talks about how he views making games as an artistry, rather than developing a product. He adds that he wants to move on and make games “that could only be made by Hideki Kamiya.” This was also another reason he left Platinum Games, so that he could continue to “forge his own path” and make the kind of games that reflect himself as a developer. 

I want to put my artistry into games and deliver games that could only be made by Hideki Kamiya, so that players can enjoy Hideki Kamiya games exactly as they are. I decided to leave the company and forge my own path, to continue making games that reflect the developers who made them.”

Hideki Kamiya has secured an impeccable repertoire over the years. Responsible for creating the game that essentially birthed the character-action genre, his impact in the industry can be felt even today with games such as Final Fantasy 16 and God of War Ragnarok. Going further, as someone who has loved Kamiya-san’s games since my teenage years, there is a very particular style that has been lost over the past many years from Platinum.

While the man himself has been present in the company and has supervised many recent projects such as NieR Automata, Astral Chain, and Bayonetta 3, the last game he actually directed was The Wonderful 101 in 2013. While Astral Chain was directed by Takahisa Taura, Bayonetta 3 was directed by Yusuke Miyata. 

When asked about future projects, Hideki Kamiya already has ideas in mind for another game that he is excited to work on when he can. He shows excitement to start working on games again once his contractual obligations come to an end after an year. He adds that while he can’t say much about it, the one thing he can say is that it will be a Hideki Kamiya game.