Bayonetta, Devil May Cry Director Says Goodbye To PlatinumGames

Hideki Kamiya, the man behind iconic character action games such as Bayonetta, Devil May Cry, and Viewtiful Joe, announced that he’ll leave legendary action game studio PlatinumGames after almost 20 years there.

The Week In Games: Witching Hour

Kamiya posted a message in Japanese on X (formerly Twitter) on September 25 announcing his departure, which is set for October 12. He later followed that post up with an English version that essentially said the same thing: although it was a tough decision that came with lots of consideration, he’s leaving PlatinumGames on his own accord.

“However, I feel this outcome is for the best,” Kamiya wrote in English. “I will continue to create in my Hideki Kamiya way. I hope you’ll keep your eyes peeled.”

PlatinumGames posted about Kamiya’s departure as well.

“We regret to announce that Hideki Kamiya will be leaving PlatinumGames on October 12, 2023,” the studio wrote. “We are truly grateful for his creative ideas, leadership, and contribution to the growth of PlatinumGames from our start-up to this very day. We believe that he will continue to succeed in his future endeavors as a game creator. We are looking forward to seeing the game industry grow into a better place with him in it. We wish him the best for the future!”

Kotaku reached out to PlatinumGames for comment.

Kamiya has had an illustrious career in the games industry. Starting as a designer at Capcom in 1994, he’d spend nearly a decade working on projects like Devil May Cry and Resident Evil before moving on to the now-defunct Capcom subsidiary Clover Studio (Viewtiful Joe, Okami) in 2004.Capcom shuttered Clover just two years after it opened, and Kamiya co-founded PlatinumGames shortly after in 2006. While he was already recognizable, it’d be his work at PlatinumGames that’d make him a household name. Games like Astral Chain, Bayonetta, and The Wonderful 101—alongside collaborations with Microsoft for the canceled Scalebound that was unceremoniously canceled after four years of development and Square Enix for the legendary Nier: Automata—solidified Kamiya as an action game aficionado and established PlatinumGames as the master of the genre. Even though he wasn’t directly involved in every one of the studio’s projects—like the action third-person shooter Vanquish, the open-world beat ‘em up Anarchy Reigns, and my personal fave, the over-the-top action-adventure game Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance—Kamiya’s presence can still be felt.

It’s a bummer to see Kamiya leave a studio he not only co-founded but also helped propel into the limelight with such critically acclaimed games. He told us to keep our eyes peeled, though, so I’m sure he’s got something delicious cooking in that game development oven of his.

 

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by pbnbigesdi Posted on

Bayonetta Creator ‘Over’ Old Job, Starting YouTube Channel

After announcing that he would do so late last month, Bayonetta director Hideki Kamiya left his job as vice president at PlatinumGames on October 12. And the very same day he became free of the studio he’d co-founded, he also hard-launched a new YouTube channel, “Hideki Kamiya Channel.” Its first and only video (which has two versions, with English or Japanese subtitles) features Kamiya explaining his decision to leave Platinum, what he’ll do now that he’s left, and his extended thoughts on making curry.

The Week In Games: Witching Hour

“[I] made CURRY the other day,” English subtitles say. “I had cravings for homemade curry. […] I went to the supermarket and bought ingredients while looking at the recipe on my phone. It says one onion, or maybe it was one-and-a-half, and one potato…”

Yeah, Kamiya doesn’t seem anguished about leaving Platinum, where he directed action-adventure game The Wonderful 101 and supervised every Bayonetta follow-up. The video shows him carrying a box stuffed with collectible figurines and plushies down from the Platinum office, about which he can only say, “I’m over it. I’m so over it.”

Later in the video, Kamiya—with his silver sport sunglasses on—says that it’s been three months since he settled on quitting Platinum, which he wanted to do out of his “beliefs as a game creator.”

“I’m not going to retire yet,” he says. “I want to keep creating games,” though “reasons” he couldn’t elaborate on—probably a non-compete clause attached to his contract at Platinum—prevent him from working in the gaming industry for at least a year. For now, Kamiya, who’s been in the gaming industry for some 30 years, says he’s feeling “very refreshed” watching Netflix instead of “[attending] those boring meetings with all kinds of important people.” He promises to post only “completely useless” information on his YouTube channel.

“[My channel] won’t be help to anyone wanting to be in the gaming industry,” he says. (Shots fired, Sakurai.) Then he drives his sour cherry red Lamborghini into frame. He pushes open one of its batwing doors to speak to the camera: “Off to the UNEMPLOYMENT CENTER. See ya!”

I’m happy for him—the only thing more fulfilling than spending decades of your life becoming a major, powerful figure in a cutthroat, creative industry is doing absolutely nothing.

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by pbnbigesdi Posted on
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