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News Hideki Kamiya to leave PlatinumGames on October 12th

Brock Reiher said:
Bayonetta games all do that on Switch, don't they? I think the bigger deal is being a first party game on switch. Everything sells on switch.
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Yes, but Astral Chain did it the fastest and is still the best selling Platinum Game on Switch

Had to check to make sure
www.installbaseforum.com

Nintendo software and hardware sales data from 1983 to present

I'm going to keep this thread updated with new, more up to date info whenever is possible. UPDATED WITH DATA UNTIL DECEMBER 2023 独創 What does the following data represent? The data here presented is either financial data or shipment data provided by Nintendo itself directly from Nintendo's...
www.installbaseforum.com www.installbaseforum.com
 
Dardan Sandiego said:
www.videogameschronicle.com

Platinum claims it will ‘change significantly’ as it hires former Nintendo exec | VGC

Platinum Games has teased a new era for the company, as it appoints former licensing general manager and managing director of sales and planning at Nintendo, Takao Yamane, as its new Vice President.
www.videogameschronicle.com www.videogameschronicle.com

'member?
Click to expand...
Yep.

Between the stated focus on live-service games and merc work for other companies (see: their work on FF16), it's enough to paint a picture of what the company probably wants to focus on in the future.

...which doesn't leave but so much for the kind of games Kamiya most wants to make, sadly.

mazi said:
🤔

ngl without kamiya i'd say they are a more attractive potential acquisition for nintendo
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Even if Tencent wasn't involved, I'd still doubt it. Why be bought out wholesale, when the allure of merc work for any interested party is there?
 
Lugia667 said:
though I will say it if was a really bad breakup wouldn't he just leave now instead of waiting till the 12th?
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Maybe it's legal thing? It's a ~2 week notice he gave.

I don't think it was super amicable cause it seems very sudden anyway.
 
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Lugia667 said:
though I will say it if was a really bad breakup wouldn't he just leave now instead of waiting till the 12th?
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it's never gonna be that bad that he'd leave without giving a couple weeks notice.

TreIII said:
Even if Tencent wasn't involved, I'd still doubt it. Why be bought out wholesale, when the allure of merc work for any interested party is there?
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i'm not saying it's gonna happen (or i want it to happen), but if there ever was a time where they wanted to sell it seems like nintendo would be a good candidate, specially if they don't have to deal with kamiya's... online presence.
 
mazi said:
i'm not saying it's gonna happen (or i want it to happen), but if there ever was a time where they wanted to sell to me it seems like nintendo would be a good candidate, specially if they don't have to deal with kamiya's... online presence.
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If Nintendo really cared about "that", they probably wouldn't have banked the likes of Bayo2 and Wonderful101 in the first place, let alone all the other collaborations they've done with P* since he became a VP and very public facing persona of the company.

Kamiya's online persona is a) not how he acts in real life and b) was something he made to counteract all the trolling and racist vitriol he'd get on a daily basis.
 
TreIII said:
If Nintendo really cared about "that", they probably wouldn't have banked the likes of Bayo2 and Wonderful101 in the first place, let alone all the other collaborations they've done with P* since he became a VP and very public facing persona of the company.

Kamiya's online persona is a) not how he acts in real life and b) was something he made to counteract all the trolling and racist vitriol he'd get on a daily basis.
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most of his online persona is just tweeting about things he likes anyways. He only really gets hostile when provoked
 
mazi said:
🤔

ngl without kamiya i'd say they are a more attractive potential acquisition for nintendo
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Had Kamiya left a few years ago, I'd probably have agreed if only for Nintendo to gain a foothold in Osaka. But by now they've become super unwieldy. I'm not sure Nintendo would be willing to take on that burden. Inaba seemed more open to the idea of an acquisition than Kamiya but if it happens, I still expect it to be Tencent.
TreIII said:
Yep.

Between the stated focus on live-service games and merc work for other companies (see: their work on FF16), it's enough to paint a picture of what the company probably wants to focus on in the future.

...which doesn't leave but so much for the kind of games Kamiya most wants to make, sadly.
Click to expand...
It's difficult to sort through all of the information of the past years and their stated strategy. Project GG was announced shortly after the Tencent money infusion and it's never been entirely clear what kind of game it is in terms of structure, whether it's more like their old games or a break with the past.

www.videogameschronicle.com

Platinum’s new CEO wants to create ‘larger, riskier’ games and hints at live service focus | VGC

Plus Inaba appears to suggest that Project GG could be a live service type game…
www.videogameschronicle.com www.videogameschronicle.com

Inaba's comments could be read either way, imo. And now with Kamiya gone, who knows what that spells for the future of PG.
 
ILikeFeet said:
Doesn't mean much if their current crop of games doesn't look to bring in money. One has to ask, how popular would an Ultraman inspired game really be with all the money thrown at it?
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Well, without having seen it, or even having read a short summary how the gameplay would have been ... that's difficult to say?

It could've as much be a bomb as it could've been a surprise hit like ... dunno Armored Core 6?

But actually, if the money from Tencent was used for G.G. ... wouldn't it make it more likely that the game will continue being developed despite Kamiya leaving?

mazi said:
🤔

ngl without kamiya i'd say they are a more attractive potential acquisition for nintendo
Click to expand...

I don't see Nintendo buying P*, or even buying a majority if that's even possible.

They don't have any IPs, their biggest / most interesting IPs are either co-owned with others (SEGA) or nothing to be excited about (W101). I mean Nintendo even "let go" of that one in exchange for fully Astral Chain ownership.

And big names like Inaba or Taura could just opt to leave the studio in case of a buyout.

There's no legit reason for that.

But sure, keep propping them up with contract work like Astral Chain.
 
ILikeFeet said:
Considering Astral Chain hit 1M at full price when Kamiya's games couldn't, it worked out pretty damn well
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I don't agree that they can't make it without Kamiya, but don't forget that they used his name to sell Astral Chain as well.

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Bonejack said:
Well, without having seen it, or even having read a short summary how the gameplay would have been ... that's difficult to say?

It could've as much be a bomb as it could've been a surprise hit like ... dunno Armored Core 6?

But actually, if the money from Tencent was used for G.G. ... wouldn't it make it more likely that the game will continue being developed despite Kamiya leaving?
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we don't know their crop of games in general, so it is an assumption. but Project GG's inspiration is pretty obvious, so we can say there's a built-in audience. but can they expand that further? personally, I don't think so. shit like Ultraman is pretty niche globally, and with Platinum saying that the scope of the game expanded, I can see there being a point where the project could be difficult to justify.

that kinda pales in comparison to Armored Core, which is coming off the backs of far more successful games and, at this point, a much more prestigious company
 
Project GG had bomba written all over it. The only hope is that someone at Tencent is generous or stupid enough to give Kamiya money to form a new studio so he can work on it separately from PG.
 
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Bonejack said:
They don't have any IPs, their biggest / most interesting IPs are either co-owned with others (SEGA) or nothing to be excited about (W101). I mean Nintendo even "let go" of that one in exchange for fully Astral Chain ownership.
Click to expand...
this point is kinda moot when all Nintendo acquisition doesn't really related to ip ownership. (Retro, MonolithSoft, NLG)
heck, back then Monolith Soft was even in worse position than PG now.
 
Nakapol said:
this point is kinda moot when all Nintendo acquisition doesn't really related to ip ownership. (Retro, MonolithSoft, NLG)
heck, back then Monolith Soft was even in worse position than PG now.
Click to expand...
yeah if nintendo were interested i don't think their lack of owned IPs would be a negative factor. they'd get to work on astral chain, bayonetta 4 and more bayo spin offs (nintendo and sega seem to have no problem continuing the licensing deal), more new IPs, etc.
 
ILikeFeet said:
we don't know their crop of games in general, so it is an assumption. but Project GG's inspiration is pretty obvious, so we can say there's a built-in audience. but can they expand that further? personally, I don't think so. shit like Ultraman is pretty niche globally, and with Platinum saying that the scope of the game expanded, I can see there being a point where the project could be difficult to justify.

that kinda pales in comparison to Armored Core, which is coming off the backs of far more successful games and, at this point, a much more prestigious company
Click to expand...

Armored Core was just the next best example i could come up with when i was thinking about a very niche game/series seeing rather good success. ^^

If G.G. has gotten bigger than initially thought and planned, i wonder if Tencent weren't willing to add another chunk of money on top.
In case G.G. was cancelled, it would feel strange to first "greenlight" this scope increase only to pull the plug suddenly a year later.

Nakapol said:
this point is kinda moot when all Nintendo acquisition doesn't really related to ip ownership. (Retro, MonolithSoft, NLG)
heck, back then Monolith Soft was even in worse position than PG now.
Click to expand...

Retro i can't remember why Nintendo bought them.
MonolithSoft ... iirc they were a "consolidation" because of a failed aquisition of Bamco by Nintendo?
NLG was the head of the studio wanting to leave and literally offering them to Nintendo.

Unless Retro was similar like P* right now, i don't think there's anything in common between P* right now and the devs Nintendo ended up buying.
 
Nintendo should make moves to keep PG open to making games for them, as well as keep Talent close at hand. I'm not sure acquisition is the best course, but perhaps funding more games.
 
Bonejack said:
Retro i can't remember why Nintendo bought them.
MonolithSoft ... iirc they were a "consolidation" because of a failed aquisition of Bamco by Nintendo?
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They already had a stake in Retro, but felt Jeff Spangenberg was mismanaging the studio, so they bought his shares to get him out.

As for Monolith Soft, the way Sugiura tells it, they approached Nintendo about buying a controlling stake in the studio away from Namco. (Though while we're on the subject, I've always heard that Nintendo wanted to buy Namco, but I've never seen anyone source that claim.)
 
OctoSplattack said:
They already had a stake in Retro, but felt Jeff Spangenberg was mismanaging the studio, so they bought his shares to get him out.

As for Monolith Soft, the way Sugiura tells it, they approached Nintendo about buying a controlling stake in the studio away from Namco. (Though while we're on the subject, I've always heard that Nintendo wanted to buy Namco, but I've never seen anyone source that claim.)
Click to expand...
it was more of buying Bandai, but they were worried about messing up their relationship with other companies
 
Dardan Sandiego said:
Inaba's comments could be read either way, imo. And now with Kamiya gone, who knows what that spells for the future of PG.
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Short term, I think they'll be fine. "Astral Chain 2" is probably something that could be announced "any day now" and gives Taura and his team more work, plus keeps PlatinumGames's bond with Nintendo strong. Again, it seems like merc work to help with bigger projects has been pretty lucrative for P*. Hell, maybe there's even some story beats and other notes that Kamiya will leave behind for whomever will be shepherding the Bayonetta brand after he's gone (maybe Abebe Tinari, the director of Bayo Origins?).

It's the more long term outlook that's more unclear, to me. If Project GG is apparently NOT going to be Kamiya's next magnum opus and PG's possible service game vehicle, then, well, what is?
 
TreIII said:
Short term, I think they'll be fine. "Astral Chain 2" is probably something that could be announced "any day now" and gives Taura and his team more work, plus keeps PlatinumGames's bond with Nintendo strong. Again, it seems like merc work to help with bigger projects has been pretty lucrative for P*. Hell, maybe there's even some story beats and other notes that Kamiya will leave behind for whomever will be shepherding the Bayonetta brand after he's gone (maybe Abebe Tinari, the director of Bayo Origins?).

It's the more long term outlook that's more unclear, to me. If Project GG is apparently NOT going to be Kamiya's next magnum opus and PG's possible service game vehicle, then, well, what is?
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I was thinking more in terms of overall strategy. From an outsider's perspective Kamiya, Tencent and their self-publishing initiative all seemed to be tied together to some degree. With Kamiya leaving and Project GG most likely dead or leaving with him, where does that leave the rest of PG? To what degree is Tencent still involved? Is this a case of Kamiya misjudging what it'd mean to self-publish or did Inaba and Yamane roll things back? Just a lot of questions given the timeline of events here.
 
Platinum has had most of it's recent sucess with Nintedo outside of Automata (and Square is now doing that on their own). They would be fools to stop that
 
He's clearly a valuable developer that's free to go where he chooses, but it'll be interesting to see where he ends up. I hope that this decision is beneficial regardless for both Kamiya and Platinum
 
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Wow, didn't see this coming. I wonder if he just needed a fresh challenge or if there's something else going on at P*. I'm sure he's going to land on his feet but wow.
 
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Dardan Sandiego said:
I was thinking more in terms of overall strategy. From an outsider's perspective Kamiya, Tencent and their self-publishing initiative all seemed to be tied together to some degree. With Kamiya leaving and Project GG most likely dead or leaving with him, where does that leave the rest of PG? To what degree is Tencent still involved? Is this a case of Kamiya misjudging what it'd mean to self-publish or did Inaba and Yamane roll things back? Just a lot of questions given the timeline of events here.
Click to expand...
Who knows?

In the end, one of the simplest answers I could think of, at least for Kamiya, is that he was just not jiving with what's going on, both as far as being a "Businessman", as well as P*'s current trajectory. After all, Scalebound was a passion project of his that got ate up after the project made multiple changes to make the parties involved happy. Scalebound's demise inevitably led to JP Kellams' departure from P*, years ago.

So, who's to say the writing wasn't on the wall for GG, and Kamiya had just had enough, after playing this game before?

Speaking of ol' boy, JP...he has yet to weigh in on this latest string of events. It'll be interesting if he has anything to say!
 
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Lugia667 said:
I just hope Bayonetta doesn't get Megamand in response to this (essentially shuttered for years because the creator/head of franchise left)
Click to expand...

I allow myself to go out a bit on this and say: Bayonetta being dead again now or not is Nintendo's decision.

SEGA own the IP, but i don't think there's any plan to ever use it on their own motivation again.
And P* won't say no in case Nintendo and SEGA approach them for a new one.
 
I know Kamiya was sort of the face of Platinum with Inaba, but let's not forget the existence of many brilliant directors : Yusuke Miyata, Abebe Tinari and Takahisa Taura. Platinum has recruited a lot of young talented developers over the past 10 years and they have been behind some of the studio's biggest games. Kamiya's legacy is in good hands.
 
Dardan Sandiego said:
Had Kamiya left a few years ago, I'd probably have agreed if only for Nintendo to gain a foothold in Osaka. But by now they've become super unwieldy. I'm not sure Nintendo would be willing to take on that burden. Inaba seemed more open to the idea of an acquisition than Kamiya but if it happens, I still expect it to be Tencent.

It's difficult to sort through all of the information of the past years and their stated strategy. Project GG was announced shortly after the Tencent money infusion and it's never been entirely clear what kind of game it is in terms of structure, whether it's more like their old games or a break with the past.

www.videogameschronicle.com

Platinum’s new CEO wants to create ‘larger, riskier’ games and hints at live service focus | VGC

Plus Inaba appears to suggest that Project GG could be a live service type game…
www.videogameschronicle.com www.videogameschronicle.com

Inaba's comments could be read either way, imo. And now with Kamiya gone, who knows what that spells for the future of PG.
Click to expand...
This quote reads more intriguingly now:
Kamiya: I think in terms of the expectations of fans in relation to linear action games like NieR and Bayonetta, we understand that we do get some respect for the action games that we’ve created, and we’re always happy to hear that. But we don’t want to be labelled as ‘the action game company’, we want to be labelled as a company that is interested in original, fun gameplay.

Something like Sol Cresta isn’t this black sheep, where it’s totally different… it still feels like part of the family because at the end of the day, we feel that it’s an original, fun thing that we wanted to do. I hope that with the things that we do in the future that philosophy will become more apparent to our fans.
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There are some readings of the split as "Kamiya loves linear action and Platinum is shifting towards other stuff," but I wonder if it's more the opposite; Kamiya's been trying the other stuff, it doesn't go well, and other people at the company want to stick with their more proven formulae that's been more consistently profitable
 
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I can't even process this right now. Just... what!?

What could have happened at Platinum? Project G.G - is that yet another cruel loss to the realities of game development? When will we next see another Kamiya directed game given this major set back? What's next for the man?

So many questions. Fucking hell :(
 
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Christo750 said:
def feels like he was getting off a sinking ship.

i smell them getting sold pretty soon.
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They just in the last year shipped two projects for Nintendo and also worked on squares premiere Blockbuster franchise with ff16.

If anything, Kamiya is the closest thing platinum has to a " sinking ship" with the projects most heavily tied to him over the last decade failing to meet any level of expectations (w101 and sol cresta) or being outright cancelled(scalebound). But there isn't really anything that's been holding platinum back like that really
 
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Dekuman said:
Nintendo should make moves to keep PG open to making games for them, as well as keep Talent close at hand. I'm not sure acquisition is the best course, but perhaps funding more games.
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I don’t see a reason why either entity would want it to stop with the current paradigm. Even in a Tencent acquisition I can see them still funding games.
 
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Given Kamiya's recent track record I wouldn't be surprised if we found out that he was "allowed" to leave tbh, especially if Project G.G. was another dud.
 
Only way I can see Nintendo stumping up the cash for Platinum is if they have multiple projects currently in the works for them which would be placed under threat if someone like Sony or Microsoft came sniffing around. Let's say an Astral Chain 2 in the pipeline or something wilder like a new StarFox. Basically if they have projects that are integral to Nintendo's short to medium term release schedule, they'll make moves to secure those games, and some form of ownership of Platinum may be the result. However if they don't have much in the works for Nintendo, or a longer term project that's in early stages, I can see Nintendo not bothering as we know they'd prefer to just expand their own dev teams instead.

I don't think we can read too much into Kamiya leaving just yet. It's probably a breakdown in the relationship or a shift in business practices brought on by market realities. For now we can but speculate.
 
Galgavias said:
Only way I can see Nintendo stumping up the cash for Platinum is if they have multiple projects currently in the works for them which would be placed under threat if someone like Sony or Microsoft came sniffing around. Let's say an Astral Chain 2 in the pipeline or something wilder like a new StarFox. Basically if they have projects that are integral to Nintendo's short to medium term release schedule, they'll make moves to secure those games, and some form of ownership of Platinum may be the result. However if they don't have much in the works for Nintendo, or a longer term project that's in early stages, I can see Nintendo not bothering as we know they'd prefer to just expand their own dev teams instead.

I don't think we can read too much into Kamiya leaving just yet. It's probably a breakdown in the relationship or a shift in business practices brought on by market realities. For now we can but speculate.
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Any current projects probably wouldn't be affected by a buyout due to preexisting contracts. Buying a whole ass studio with a headcount in the mid 300s would be way overkill just to save something like Astral Chain anyway.
 
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Yeah this is definitely a sudden move. End of an era somewhat.

I don't think he nor PG themselves are going to Nintendo. If anything, he may attempt to go the Kojima route and make his own studio or the Nagoshi route and join Netease or Tencent.

Sucks either way. I just hope he's able to at least get Project GG out. If not? Damn....RIP.
 
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