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News Hideki Kamiya to leave PlatinumGames on October 12th

Bonejack said:
I think if the live servie / GaaS focus wasn't a part of the self-publishing, they wouldn't have had to say this as a part of their restructuring.

If it was just "grunt" work, like it was for Babylons Fall, it would've been something P* has been doing for a while now.

After all, they wanna own the IPs they create. The Gaas / live service stuff is definetly a part of this.
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I'm not saying that their GaaS initiative wasn't a part of their self publishing initiative at all. But more that the two - Kamiya calling for self publishing and Platinum wanting GaaS games - aren't incongruent. The former can easily be true without Kamiya necessarily being the deciding factor for the latter. After all, there's a reason the first set of self published games were Kamiya's.

Besides GaaS could be seen as a necessary "evil" for cash flow, and there's nothing inherently uncreative about GaaS games
 
Vookatos said:
Man, this just makes me think about how Platinum's REALLY not in a good shape as of late. The last game of theirs I really liked came out 10 years ago
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The last three games they worked on were bayonetta 3, cereza and the lost demon and as support for ff16.

I think saying that's not good shape isn't particularly fair.

Now, their short lived delve in to self publishing stuff, which Kamiya certainly appeared to be pushing for, didn't go so well, and if they're going to double back down on working with Nintendo and Square projects for the foreseeable future, that'd certainly explain Kamiya leaving to try elsewhere (and a netease bag may well be involved)
 
NateDrake said:
He's clearly pissed and something (maybe GG cancellation) made him want out ASAP.
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Curious, is this something you are able to share further as to why he may have left, or is that not something you can share without jeopardising your sources?

Alternatively, do you think this is something that will develop further in the future, or not because NDA’s will stop people from talking?
 
AngryAlchemist said:
Besides GaaS could be seen as a necessary "evil" for cash flow, and there's nothing inherently uncreative about GaaS games
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Yeah. GaaS doesn't mean uncreative.

But i think it's been pretty obvious that recently, there's more GaaS failing hard than making big money. Unless you're company name is Hoyoverse.

In the end, it comes down to me simply thinking that this focus on Gaas/Live service is a big reason Kamiya became unwell at P*.
 
Bobdapeach said:
Curious, is this something you are able to share further as to why he may have left, or is that not something you can share without jeopardising your sources?

Alternatively, do you think this is something that will develop further in the future, or not because NDA’s will stop people from talking?
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I seriously doubt Nate has the inside track on internal job changes at Platinum Games within hours of them happening.

You just have to look at the wording in the statements with words like 'regret' and 'own beliefs' being used.

Reading between the lines, it's quite clear there has been some sort of disagreement.
 
Linkstrikesback said:
The last three games they worked on were bayonetta 3, cereza and the lost demon and as support for ff16.

I think saying that's not good shape isn't particularly fair.

Now, their short lived delve in to self publishing stuff, which Kamiya certainly appeared to be pushing for, didn't go so well, and if they're going to double back down on working with Nintendo and Square projects for the foreseeable future, that'd certainly explain Kamiya leaving to try elsewhere (and a netease bag may well be involved)
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I'm fairly sick so let me rephrase that.
"I don't like any of Platinum's recent contributions to the industry".
Obviously I don't know how they're doing financially and frankly, I don't care - never was one to look at companies stats - but I am feeling like they "lost their luster" quite a while ago. Dunno if this departure will change anything except for the fact that Kamiya won't shove StarFox minigames into every one of their projects now.
 
Bonejack said:
He's one of the founders, and literally the vice-president of P* right now.

The only higher up would be Inaba, and i doubt Inaba would've actively and openly gone against Kamiya.
If anything, the PR released by P* reads like they didn't want him to leave.
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There are other higher up on platinum, Takao Yamane, he comes from nintendo and enter platinum last year as vicepresident
 
Bonejack said:
But i think it's been pretty obvious that recently, there's more GaaS failing hard than making big money. Unless you're company name is Hoyoverse.
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Kamiya has had 2 failed games, 1 cancelled game, and what's about to be another cancelled game in the span of 10 years. I agree with what you're saying that GaaS is a risky market, but again, I think it's much more likely Platinum had to start getting stricter with Kamiya in general and that's why he left. Rather than some moral outrage at GaaS due to "uncreativity". If anything, the fact that the company has to rely on publishers to get anything done was probably a bigger concern to Kamiya's creativity.

But I guess there's not much else to say on this topic so we don't have to speculate further.
 
Ojoloco said:
There are other higher up on platinum, Takao Yamane, he comes from nintendo and enter platinum last year as vicepresident
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Yamane is vice-president, too. I don't think him also being CBO puts him above Kamiya.

AngryAlchemist said:
Kamiya has had 2 failed games, 1 cancelled game, and what's about to be another cancelled game in the span of 10 years. I agree with what you're saying that GaaS is a risky market, but again, I think it's much more likely Platinum had to start getting stricter with Kamiya in general and that's why he left. Rather than some moral outrage at GaaS due to "uncreativity". If anything, the fact that the company has to rely on publishers to get anything done was probably a bigger concern to Kamiya's creativity.

But I guess there's not much else to say on this topic so we don't have to speculate further.
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I don't even know where i ever said it was outrage due to uncreativity???

I just said that Kamiya is prolly someone who's more into meaty single player games like Bayonetta or Astral Chain (i know the latter isn't from him), and that he might not have liked the change of focus to GaaS.

I also never said it was the single reason he left?
 
Bonejack said:
It's a gut feeling, sure, but i don't think he wants to join Nintendo.

And frankly, i think he's too difficult to handle for Nintendo to even actively think about going after him.

I could see him going to NetEase.
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I agree with this, but I would also see him working as a freelance for external companies like them with no problem. He said several times that he owes much gratitude to Nintendo for giving the Bayo series a real chance (despite the IP rights being hold by SEGA), instead of a Scalebound scenario (and maybe now G.G.?).

Not saying like he is extremely essential for the series production, he isn't even the director of Bayo2&3 but I can't think of ruling out his future involvement.
 
Bonejack said:
Yamane is vice-president, too. I don't think him also being CBO puts him above Kamiya.



I don't even know where i ever said it was outrage due to uncreativity???

I just said that Kamiya is prolly someone who's more into meaty single player games like Bayonetta or Astral Chain (i know the latter isn't from him), and that he might not have liked the change of focus to GaaS.

I also never said it was the single reason he left?
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I don't really get how that was what you got out of my post? The outrage was just a joke because it's Kamiya. I also never said you said it was the single reason.

I'm basically just saying it could be multiple things, but Platinum having a tighter leash after so many failed projects seems likely. And that if your opinion is based more around the GaaS direction that's fine. Really shouldn't be controversial, I think. Like I said it's all speculation so for now there's not much more to add anyways.
 
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Bonejack said:
Yamane is vice-president, too. I don't think him also being CBO puts him above Kamiya.



I don't even know where i ever said it was outrage due to uncreativity???

I just said that Kamiya is prolly someone who's more into meaty single player games like Bayonetta or Astral Chain (i know the latter isn't from him), and that he might not have liked the change of focus to GaaS.

I also never said it was the single reason he left?
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Yes, but since Yamane's entry on the high chairs, Inaba had made a policy change and was talking about making Platinum rely more on Nintendo (which surely helps the fact that only their latest games with Nintendo are the ones that work well).

While Kamiya, I imagine, preferred to continue with his independence of working on what he wants and how he wants.
 
BountyHunter64 said:
I agree with this, but I would also see him working as a freelance for external companies like them with no problem. He said several times that he owes much gratitude to Nintendo for giving the Bayo series a real chance (despite the IP rights being hold by SEGA), instead of a Scalebound scenario (and maybe now G.G.?).

Not saying like he is extremely essential for the series production, he isn't even the director of Bayo2&3 but I can't think of ruling out his future involvement.
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Depends, if he indeed does start a studio under NetEase or Tencent, i don't think he would do any work for a theoretical new Bayonetta game, no matter how small.
Same if he joins another pub/dev ... like if he in theory would rejoin Capcom for example.

I wonder if he was up to being a freelancer ... though after so many years in the business, he might prefer heading a studio of his own again.

Ojoloco said:
Yes, but since Yamane's entry on the high chairs, Inaba had made a policy change and was talking about making Platinum rely more on Nintendo (which surely helps the fact that only their latest games with Nintendo are the ones that work well).

While Kamiya, I imagine, preferred to continue with his independence of working on what he wants and how he wants.
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Dunno, i feel like Nintendo was part of a lot of "Kamiya friendly" happenings at P*.

"Reviving" Bayonetta, his baby even if he stepped back a bit in 2 and 3.
(Wanting to add Nintendo and Sega giving P* the time after Bayo 3 had so much problems in the beginning)
Allowing them to do the multiplatform W101 ports, Nintendo co-owns (or co-owned ... i don't know anymore) the IP.
Giving them the chance to do a Star Fox game.
Generally keeping the company "busy" by doing quite a few project with them.

Don't think Nintendo would've demanded or would demand Kamiya to stop working on stuff he wants and do things for them within P*.
 
Japan development software is going through a lot change lately, with very impressive games coming from China and Korea I see how competition may impact the way games are being developed in Japan as well, this big talents want to keep original themselves and with new offers of foreign money they have more room to choose.
I hope he does well, and platinum as well, because a company cannot relay in just one person to exist.
 
Unexpected news and you can't help but wonder what has happened behind the scenes to make him take the leap. I can't see him going to Nintendo or any major publisher given how he likes his independence and ownership of his games. He'll probably head to China and be given a truckload of money to make what he wants.

Wonder what this could mean for Platinum going forward as well? Perhaps a shift back to being a studio for hire as opposed to self publishing? Maybe that was the reason for the split.
 
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Bonejack said:
Depends, if he indeed does start a studio under NetEase or Tencent, i don't think he would do any work for a theoretical new Bayonetta game, no matter how small.
Same if he joins another pub/dev ... like if he in theory would rejoin Capcom for example.

I wonder if he was up to being a freelancer ... though after so many years in the business, he might prefer heading a studio of his own again.
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Well... If he has to take a necessary step between the two directions of being under another big studio or going for himself again, I would prefer the indipendent route knowing his trackrecord.
 
Bonejack said:
Depends, if he indeed does start a studio under NetEase or Tencent, i don't think he would do any work for a theoretical new Bayonetta game, no matter how small.
Same if he joins another pub/dev ... like if he in theory would rejoin Capcom for example.

I wonder if he was up to being a freelancer ... though after so many years in the business, he might prefer heading a studio of his own again.



Dunno, i feel like Nintendo was part of a lot of "Kamiya friendly" happenings at P*.

"Reviving" Bayonetta, his baby even if he stepped back a bit in 2 and 3.
(Wanting to add Nintendo and Sega giving P* the time after Bayo 3 had so much problems in the beginning)
Allowing them to do the multiplatform W101 ports, Nintendo co-owns (or co-owned ... i don't know anymore) the IP.
Giving them the chance to do a Star Fox game.
Generally keeping the company "busy" by doing quite a few project with them.

Don't think Nintendo would've demanded or would demand Kamiya to stop working on stuff he wants and do things for them within P*.
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I'm not saying that Nintendo sees Kamiya as a problem. Only that Kamiya was the main defender of initiatives like Platinum 4 and self-publishing, and since last year the Platinum leadership has been shifting from wanting self-publishing to wanting to rely more on Nintendo.

It's just a theory but it's possible that what Kamiya wants is independence, and his self-publishing initiatives have been cut off because they are failures.
 
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EnergyDrink said:
Kamiya is a free thinker. I don't think he would work for Netease, Tencent or other companies that only are extended arms of the corrupt Chinese government.
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whether he ends up working for netease/tencent or not won't have anything to do with them being chinese companies with ties to the government.
 
Brock Reiher said:
That's a wrap. Platinum Games games are only as good as the amount of involvement Kamiya has in them. I'm guessing they'll be mostly a support studio now.
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he hasn't been heavily involved in most of platinum's biggest hits other than being a supervisor. they will be fine, and may even be better off not having to spend time on his passion projects.
 
mazi said:
he hasn't been heavily involved in most of platinum's biggest hits other than being a supervisor. they will be fine, and may even be better off not having to spend time on his passion projects.
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I think this might turn out be true. Kamiya's ego and attitude haven't seemed to be that helpful in recent years.

If he joined Nintendo or found a place in any team where he wasn't the "star", he would do better I reckon. But it seems unlikely.
 
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mazi said:
he hasn't been heavily involved in most of platinum's biggest hits other than being a supervisor. they will be fine, and may even be better off not having to spend time on his passion projects.
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A lot of their biggest hits have been their worst games imo
 
Sol Cresta was a great game, super sad to see it didnt do so hot. Hopefully he joins somewhere else, maybe Hamster since he’s a retro fan?
 
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PG grew by ~50% over the past 5 years and in that time opened two more studios, one in Tokyo and one in Fukuoka. It's entirely possible that the financial realities made it difficult for PG to work on the types of games Kamiya wants to make without a larger publisher backing it. Just how it goes.
 
Dardan Sandiego said:
PG grew by ~50% over the past 5 years and in that time opened two more studios, one in Tokyo and one in Fukuoka. It's entirely possible that the financial realities made it difficult for PG to work on the types of games Kamiya wants to make without a larger publisher backing it. Just how it goes.
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Wasn't that basically the Tencent (i think) investment they got?
 
Truly, an end to an era.

I can guess he wasn't happy being a "businessman" as a VP, nor the current trajectory of the P* as a whole.
 
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