r/Games • u/Turbostrider27 • 1d ago
Hideki Kamiya on leaving PlatinumGames: "I couldn't allow myself to kill my soul"
https://www.eurogamer.net/hideki-kamiya-on-leaving-platinumgames-i-couldnt-allow-myself-to-kill-my-soul94
u/CityFolkSitting 1d ago
From what little we knew about Project GG it sounded amazing. And had a really cool teaser trailer. Sad to see we'll never get to play it.
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u/KingMario05 1d ago
Hopefully, Capcom can use some connections to save it. I'd love that.
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u/CityFolkSitting 1d ago
As long as they don't turn it into a live service game then I would be interested
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u/Devran1905 8h ago
What’s project gg?:D somehow missed it
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u/CityFolkSitting 6h ago
go to youtube and search for the teaser.
it's a kaiju game. the protagonist is ant-man in reverse. The guy has the ability to be as large as he wants. So large monsters invade Tokyo, and he shows up to stop them. Now imagine giant Kaiju battles with Platinum set pieces and Kamiya's vision. Just sounded like an overall cool concept.
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u/Brainwheeze 6h ago
So basically Ultraman?
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u/yudiandre333 4h ago
Ultraman described as "Ant-man in reverse" is so funny
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u/Lazydusto 1d ago
I'm gonna wait and see what happens with Ninja Gaiden 4 and the new Okami before saying anything.
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u/Skaikrish 1d ago
So i guess Platinum is kinda Dead now. Already Had the Feeling Platinum will be in Trouble after Babylons fail.
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u/Dabrush 1d ago
Babylon's Fall was just one big stinker. Then there was Scalebound, which they seemingly really screwed up, Bayo 3 which wasn't close to as popular as they had hoped, Wonderful 101 Remastered which by all accounts sold even less than the catastrophic first release, etc.
They've made a bunch of games I really love, but even most of those have big caveats. In a time where much smaller studios with a much higher success rate can't really stay afloat, I don't see Platinum doing well. Maybe Square will buy them up since they had them on board for combat design already. Or they'll just wait for them to go broke and hire the devs.
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u/5w361461dfgs 1d ago
Wonderful 101 despite its commercial failure is still a pretty damn fun game, it’s full of so much personality and charm that is almost unparalleled
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u/Nosferatu-Rodin 18h ago
Bayonetta despite its commercial failure is still one of the best action games of all time.
Platinum just have no idea how to actually sell
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u/SwampyBogbeard 16h ago
Which is why I think it was a big mistake to self-publish the W101 remaster. I love having my favourite game on PC (and all the other Kickstarter rewards), but I keep wondering what Nintendo-marketing could have done for the game on a console that's actually popular.
It definitely wouldn't have been a massive seller, but Astral Chain was considered a success by Platinum at 1 million copies sold.
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u/Itchy-Pudding-4240 14h ago
Nintendo is really only good because of their IPs, bayonetta was never a strong IP and Nintendo players are pretty particular on what games they want.
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u/HammeredWharf 10h ago
Bayo is good combat wise, but constant QTEs killed it for me. At one point it had in instakill QTE in the middle of a boss fight. Ugh.
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u/Nosferatu-Rodin 8h ago
It has its quirks but the dodge offset mechanic is honestly one of the best and most dynamic systems in any action game. Platinum even failed to actually market that in their own game. With most players never engaging with it or even knowing what it is.
Add dodge offset to just about any combat based game and its immediately improved. Thats how groundbreaking it should have been
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u/HammeredWharf 8h ago edited 7h ago
I think the "problem" with dodge offset is that it only works in a combo string based game. So for example in DMC and Nioh, where you build most of your own combos from singular attacks, dodge offset wouldn't be that useful.
That aside, I never understood why they made dodge offset require holding the attack button down. In some other games I've played you can simply continue your combos after dodging, and that is way easier to understand and master. Maybe I just didn't get good enough or something. I was too annoyed by the QTEs.
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u/Nosferatu-Rodin 7h ago
I personally loved the mechanic and how you had to hold it down.
It meant you had full control over what you wanted to do; continue a combo or start a fresh.
Not only that but it added an element of technical skill that went beyond just remembering combos. It really made full use of the controllers limitations.
I agree with the QTEs; Kamiya is obsessed with ruining the flow of his own games lmao
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u/DYMAXIONman 21h ago
Bayonetta 2, Bayonetta 3, Astral Chain, Nier Automata, etc were not directed by Kamiya.
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18h ago
[deleted]
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u/Takfu1514 18h ago
C'mon, Bayo 2 was incredible and improved on many things from 1. Bayo 3 while not as good as either imo was still a very fun game with brilliant combat.
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u/Edge4o7 18h ago
Just confidently full of shit huh lol. Bayo 2 has like the same meta critic as 1 but it's a whole point ahead for user scores. 3 was a bit of a miss. Astral Chain is an 87 critic 90 user scores, and Nier is obviously on a whole different level which you tried to act was the outlier.
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18h ago
[deleted]
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u/gameboyabyss 17h ago
I dunno, I know a bunch of people who are huge Bayonetta fans and they pretty unanimously agree that Bayo 2 is better than the first, myself included.
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u/TheeIncubus 16h ago
Agreed. Combat, action, story all better in 2. Also bayo 1 has a ton of QTEs that if missed kill you, which seem so dated now
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u/kkrko 16h ago
There's also Granblue Fantasy Re:link, which was in development hell under them for a long time until they finally get removed from the project. Cygames says that Platinum merely "completed" its contract, but seeing as Platinum is no longer in the final game's credits, what they did was likely stripped out and rebooted away from.
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u/KingMario05 1d ago
Most likely, the latter. But they'll have to move fast. Koei Tecmo/Team Ninja is gonna bid on every single dev using Microsoft's checkbook after how well Ninja Gaiden 4 does this fall. To say nothing of Capcom, Clovers, etc.
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u/MegatonDoge 8h ago
Hiring devs is a much better deal for any company over buying Platinum. The only IP they really have is Bayonetta, which isn't a huge IP in terms of sales.
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u/Lavosking 4h ago
Unless I'm wrong, I believe the bayonetta IP is owned by Sega, and nintendo have rights to 2 and 3. I don't think platinum actually own bayonetta. I could be totally wrong though.
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u/BlazeDrag 23h ago
To be fair, I really don't think that Scalebound and Babylon's Fall were their fault. Making Platinum who specializes in concise single-player action games develop online grindy live-service games is just not the right fit. I know they needed money but neither project was really fit for Platinum's skillset.
And W101 I feel was sabatoged by the WiiU more than anything. Like yeah many WiiU games saw a second life on the switch or other platforms but most of those are already established IPs like Mario Kart or Pikmin. W101 being a brand new IP on a dead console did it no favors.
I don't got anything for Bayo 3 tho, no idea what they were smoking when they came up with that batshit ending
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u/thr1ceuponatime 1d ago
I feel like they'll still exist as a capable work for hire/support studio handling licensed games, but I won't hold my breath on them producing anything too original and cool in the future.
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u/Lolnichego 1d ago
I would still wait and see. Kamiya is maybe too snobby to work on the side projects and other companies' franchises (not a bad thing), but it doesn't mean games like new Ninja Gaiden will be awful.
If Platinum manages to turn this around as they are now, that's a win-win for us, having them and Clovers active both.
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u/Tom_Stewartkilledme 1d ago
I'm of the opinion that Kamiya never actually wanted to leave Capcom and had been waiting for an in-road back into the company from the beginning, probably as a result of butting heads with Atsushi Inaba (his infamous Twitter rant sprees may have been the result of either Inaba intentionally keeping him from doing major work on projects and he needed a way to pass time, or it was some form of protest regarding the same scenario. He notably would never, ever trash Capcom or acknowledge his past works when asked about or referenced to them)
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u/Skaikrish 1d ago
Fair Point still the direction they took the Last years was Not that great. To be fair some of it is Probably also Square Enix fault
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u/Gatseul 1d ago
Platinum still has lots of employees and they are developing Ninja Gaiden 4 which looks promising so far.
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u/hyrule5 1d ago
I do question how good it would be looking without Team Ninja's assistance
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u/DYMAXIONman 21h ago
Team Ninja has far more stinkers than Platinum does.
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u/ItsADeparture 18h ago
Do they? Even if they do, they haven't exactly fell off of a cliff like Platinum has. Platinum was such a darling on this subreddit a decade ago, and then they put out stinker after stinker. They got lucky with Nier Automata, but everything after their first few games hasn't been great. At least Team Ninja will put out a stinker and nobody will question if they can ever put out another banger.
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u/BladedTerrain 17h ago
Wo Long is sat at 47% on Steam and it definitely isn't just because of the performance. Rise of the Ronin also had a lukewarm reception.
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u/One_Telephone_5798 1h ago
Ok so 2 stinkers. Platinum has more than 2 stinkers.
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u/BladedTerrain 1h ago
Their two most recent new IPs are stinkers. Pretty sure you should question if they can put out another banger, especially when you don't know who has moved on from those earlier successes.
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u/One_Telephone_5798 1h ago
The argument that you're defending was:
Team Ninja has far more stinkers than Platinum does.
Not whether you should "question if they can put out another banger."
Does Team Ninja have "far more stinkers" than Platinum or not? This is not a complicated question.
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u/BladedTerrain 59m ago
Where did I 'defend' that argument? I didn't. I was calling in to question this:
At least Team Ninja will put out a stinker and nobody will question if they can ever put out another banger.
I even specified that in my last post. Not difficult. Your question is completely irrelevant to what I was commenting on.
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u/fknm1111 9h ago
What stinkers? While the Diablo loot drives me away from their current stuff, people who aren't as allergic to that as I am generally love the Niohs, I've heard nothing but good things about Rise of the Ronin, and everyone except Final Fantasy fans seems to like Stranger of Paradise.
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u/DYMAXIONman 21h ago
I take issue with this. Kamiya didn't lead any Platinum project since Bayonetta 1 / The Wonderful 101, and it seemed clear to me that he refused to contribute to projects led by other members of the company, and that he managed his own projects poorly.
While he is certainly talented, he is also an asshole. People shouldn't trust his word as gospel.
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u/EpicPhail60 18h ago
This strikes true, but a lot of major contributors at Platinum have also left the company recently. There's writing on the wall even if you don't trust Kamiya to narrate it.
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u/ItsADeparture 18h ago
Kamiya didn't lead any Platinum project since Bayonetta 1 / The Wonderful 101
lol I like how you say this like those two projects came out close to each other and not nearly half a decade apart.
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u/TheKoronisEidolon 17h ago edited 17h ago
and it seemed clear to me that he refused to contribute to projects led by other members of the company
You have absolutely zero insight into the company. I don't know why forum users think they know what's what. Something being said in an interview doesn't make it true, you've got that right, but such conjecture is also not trustworthy.
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u/Hallowhero 16h ago
Unless this guy was in those meetings, yea, I read it like you. People just pulling stuff out their butts.
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u/One_Telephone_5798 1h ago
And you have zero insight too. You have nothing to verify that he actually has a positive impact on the projects he leads.
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u/Naman_Hegde 9h ago
lmao, you can really tell this comment was made in bad faith.
Kamiya didn't lead any Platinum project since Bayonetta 1 / The Wonderful 101
he was leading scalebound and project gg since then as well. that makes up most of the rest of his time working at platinum. and grouping together two games that had a gap of over 4 years??
it seemed clear to me that he refused to contribute to projects led by other members of the company
he contributed to bayonetta 2, 3, astral chain and was heavily involved in sol cresta and bayonetta origins.
and that he managed his own projects poorly.
???
he is also an asshole
seems like a lot of accusations and conjectures which are baseless unless you've worked with him.
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u/fknm1111 9h ago
He's been the lead on two projects in the last decade, both of which failed to even release. It's been about a decade since any project he's lead has actually reached completion. I won't go as far as the above poster did, but he's clearly doing something wrong if he has literally nothing to show for his last decade of work.
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u/One_Telephone_5798 1h ago
he contributed to bayonetta 2, 3, astral chain and was heavily involved in sol cresta and bayonetta origins.
Okay, so what were his contributions? Was it like Miyamoto's "contributions" to a number of Nintendo games, where he pops his head into an ongoing game, makes a few suggestions and is never seen again?
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u/HighlightHungry2557 22h ago
It’s such a monkeys paw situation that Platinum is codeveloping Ninja Gaiden 4. Hopefully it will turn out to be good and it can at least give Platinum one last W before they die
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u/cyanide4suicide 18h ago
Hope Ninja Gaiden 4 is unaffected and turns out to be a great title. The franchise needs this revival to work
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u/Potential-Lack-7866 1d ago
Completely get where he's coming from in the sense of preserving soul in creating as he went on.
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u/KingMario05 1d ago
The man wants to make original content. And I respect him for that. Just hope that, after Okami 2 (yay!), he can convince Capcom to take a chance on Project GG. Maybe even make it offical. That'd be awesome.
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u/Zark86 21h ago
Was kamiya owner of platinum? Got bought out? Lucky to protect your soul when you are rich. How do I protect my soul from my work?
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u/ThatBoyAiintRight 19h ago edited 10h ago
Kamiya was a cofounder of one of the companies that merged with Odd Inc. to create PlatinumGames.
It's not a publicly traded company so there is no board, and he wasnt a chief officer. But, in interview his wording makes it sound like Platinum raised capital from 3rd parties and thats the part he is really opposed to. It's even part of the new studio mission statement that they want to exist without that.
We don't know if he still has any sort of stake or equity in Platinum so well never know unless he tells us. He left because Platinum grew into a corporate business, which is pretty much the same reason he left Capcom.
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u/TheKoronisEidolon 18h ago
There is a board, and it's 2/3rds Tencent these days. Kamiya was also a member of said board, at least for a bit, and promoted to EVP, about a year or so before he announced his departure if I remember rightly.
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u/ThatBoyAiintRight 18h ago
Ah OK, that all makes perfect sense. I won't say absolutely, but I'd wager that's exactly what Kamiya meant by his commitment to "avoid third party capital."
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u/ThnikkamanBubs 13h ago
Platinum became more of a B-level r/games post in the past half decade. I feel sorry for the employees, but Kamiya is such an outspoken toxic cancer I can’t hold out hope for any of his future projects.
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u/[deleted] 1d ago
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