Bayonetta creator Hideki Kamiya has finally revealed exactly why he left Platinum Games earlier this year.
Kamiya unblocks the secret of his departure
It’s that tale as old as time on the surface. His own beliefs no longer matched up with what Platinum Games was doing.
Speaking on his YouTube show, Kamiya went into the why and how of his sudden departure announcement back in September came about.
“Because I felt that the direction the company was heading in was different from my beliefs as a developer, said Kamiya, ”Without that element of trust, I couldn’t continue working there, and so I left, so that I could continue working in what I consider to be the right way. I don’t think of games as products, but rather as works of art. 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.”
And that was it; Kamiya had made his decision.
“I decided to leave the company and forge my own path, to continue making games that reflect the developers who made them.”
He also mentions that it was a mutual decision after much discussion with Platinum president Atsushi Inaba.
On Kamiya’s YouTube channel, which he’s been messing about with quite frequently since he found himself between jobs after leaving Platinum Games, he talks about all manner of things. Recently, he addressed a question he says he’s asked quite often: would he collaborate with another big name in Japanese gaming like Kojima, Taro, or Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki?
His answer wasn’t exactly encouraging, but in keeping with his steadfast beliefs in game development.
”Look, it would be a disaster!” Said Kamiya, “It doesn’t work like in Dragon Ball, where Goku fuses with other characters. Two people with completely different personalities and ideas would clash. There’s no way you’d get a decent game of that. Why is that hard for people to understand? There is a Japanese saying, maybe a proverb? ‘Too many captains will steer the ship up a mountain’… so there should only be ONE CAPTAIN!”
Hopefully it won’t be too long until we see what Kamiya’s post-Platinum vision is.
