Hideki Kamiya is leaving Platinum Games

[Dcubed]

Unlimited sadness

I'm guessing that means that Project GG has been cancelled then.  Doesn't sound like an amicable split at all...

Wonder where Kamiya will end up next...

Edited September 25, 2023 by Dcubed

[Julius]

1 hour ago, Dcubed said:

Wonder where Kamiya will end up next...

I'm not saying that they're planning on teaming up, but the fact that Kamiya announced he is leaving Platinum the same year that Mikami announced he is leaving Tango...definitely gets the mind racing a little at the possibilities. 

My gut instinct is that they might both go the Nagoshi route and set up shops for Net Ease/some other big Chinese gaming entity like Tencent. 

1 hour ago, Dcubed said:

I'm guessing that means that Project GG has been cancelled then.  Doesn't sound like an amicable split at all...

Unfollowed them on Twitter too, apparently? So it really doesn't have great optics. 

Could be a case that he feels like he sees where Platinum is going and isn't in a position to be as creative as he maybe wants to be, seems to be the way the majority of these go 

[Dcubed]

Yeah, NetEase does seem like the most likely candidate.  Chinese developers/publishers are just offering better pay & conditions than their Japanese counterparts right now, and all the big Japanese developers are suffering brain drain as a result.

For someone like Kamiya though? You’d think that every big Japanese giant would be tripping over themselves to throw money at the guy…

Still, I think he’ll want to remain as independent as possible, and I can’t see anyone other than NetEase being willing to let him establish a new studio on their dime.

Edited September 25, 2023 by Dcubed

[Dcubed]

So Kamiya has done the in-thing and has started a Youtube channel...

 

Right now, he's under a non-compete contract clause that prevents him from working in the games industry for the next 12 months... So he's currently spending his time bumming around and making homemade curry, while driving his Lambo to the job centre.

He won't say explicitly why he quit Platinum, but it basically sounds like he doesn't like where the company is heading with its push for GAAS and wants to carry on making traditional single player action games.

He's planning on continuing to make games after those 12 months are up, so he's not retiring (unlike Sakurai), and wants a company to pay him a totally reasonable $670,000 yearly salary for him to join.

He will also still block you on Twitter.

Sounds like he'll be alright

Edited October 12, 2023 by Dcubed

[CrowingJoe79]

He could save Resident Evil, but it's probably not in the cards. 

I think the ex producers of RE like him know that the ship has already sailed from the dock.

[Dcubed]

Hello future reader! We now know that Kamiya has founded a new company called Clovers with a bunch of Ex-Platinum Games staff.  But that's not the reason why I'm bumping this thread, no, I'm bumping this thread because Kamiya just delivered a bombshell interview with a Japanese magazine that's a bit of a tell-all about why he left Platinum...

https://www.resetera.com/threads/hideki-kamiya-on-leaving-platinumgames-and-forming-clovers-staying-at-platinumgames-would-have-killed-my-artistic-spirit.1062063/

Someone on ResetEra has helpfully translated much of its content, and it doesn't paint a pretty picture for the future of Platinum Games...

Quote

Leaving PlatinumGames TL;DR:

Differences with Inaba both creatively and with the direction the company was heading while working on Project G.G.

Spent three months talking it out but couldn't come to a compromise in the end

Kamiya felt he wouldn't be able to continue expressing his creativity at PG and his artistic spirit would die if he remained there

He seemingly wasn't happy with Project G.G. and didn't want to release a game he couldn't take responsibility for

Interim TL;DR:

 

Initially refused Koyama's offer to form a new studio

Considered going freelance like Yoko Taro, joining up with another company or even going back to his hometown

Enthusiastic PG staff came up to him and would tell him that they would love to work with him again somewhere

Eventually gave Koyama a call which was the catalyst to getting CLOVERS off the ground

CLOVERS TL;DR:

 

Three Cs, challenge, creativity, craftsmanship, fourth C is for each employee to decide for themselves

Koyama's fourth C is cleanness. Kamiya's fourth C is curiosity

CLOVERS currently has 20 employees, the plan is to expand the team to 70

Want to keep the team small and work with other development studios on their games instead of doing everything themselves (we're already seeing this with Okami 2 as M-TWO and Machine Head Works are developing the game alongside CLOVERS).

Focus on creating games with a strong creative vision

Prefer smaller AA to indie-scale projects over massive AAA ones

Kamiya wants to support younger creators at the studio while also directing his own games

CLOVERS will pitch their own original games to publishers directly in order to receive funding on a project by project basis

Kamiya prides himself and the studio on their ability to create new IPs and wants to focus on that, just like when PlatinumGames was first formed

Kamiya recognises that modern AAA games have become too focused on avoiding commercial failure leading to a lack of creative vision behind it

This is the exact reason he left PlatinumGames

He wants their games to reflect the individuality of their creators

Kamiya also wants to maintain their commitment to the three Cs by avoiding third-party capital, which is why they're handling things this way

Kamiya isn't ruling out a future PlatinumGames collaboration and would jump at the chance to create something using an IP owned by Platinum (their only IP being The Wonderful 101 of course)

PlatinumGames:

 

--You said that the reason you left was because your ideas about creativity differed from the company's policies, but did you feel that you wouldn't be able to express your own artistic creativity if you stayed at PlatinumGames?

Kamiya:
That's right. This is purely my personal opinion, but I thought, "If I continue working here, my artistic spirit will die." As a result, I thought that I should not release a work that I cannot take responsibility for to the users.

However, I don't think this is a matter of "which is better or worse." I can understand the way PlatinumGames is as a company and its logic, and I was in the position of vice president myself, but as an individual named Hideki Kamiya, I was unable to embrace that way of thinking.

 

-- With Kamiya as creator and Kamiya as vice president, have you found yourself having to do more in the latter role?

Kamiya:
Well, to put it bluntly, more than 90% of my focus was on on-site development, so originally as vice president, Kamiya Hideki was hardly active at all (laughs).

What I did as vice president of PlatinumGames was to be a "field-first" person who was as close to the field as possible, and to offer my opinion in discussions with management. Through that, we were able to balance continuing to do business as a company while still releasing cutting-edge works. I thought I was there as a "balancer," so to speak.

However, things had progressed to the point where I was no longer able to express my creative commitment, so I decided that I could no longer keep my name with the company.

 

--You said that you had been discussing the matter for nearly three months before deciding to leave the company. Kamiya and Inaba are close enough friends that you could safely call them such good friends, but the fact that you were unable to come to an agreement after so much discussion seems to suggest that this was due to a complex overall situation, rather than just one policy.

Kamiya:
From the very beginning, I've thought about PlatinumGames as a company, and that is, "PlatinumGames is Inaba's company." That doesn't mean that it's a company that Inaba has privatized, but rather that if you compare the company to a person, Inaba is the brain of the company.

Among them, I wanted to be the "muscle" that exerts the most powerful force. On top of that, I created the muscles and the weapons that the hands hold. That's how I wanted the collective known as PlatinumGames to be able to compete in the gaming industry.

The signals sent from the cerebrum are essential for muscles. At the same time, those signals must be reliable for muscles. Until then, I had received those signals, trusted them, and worked to maximize my own strength... But with regards to the future direction of Platinum with Inaba at the helm, I was no longer able to place my trust in them and exert my strength as a muscle.

 

--But as a profit-making game company, I think there are some things you have to choose from. It's a very difficult problem.

Kamiya:
That's right. Making games at a company is not a hobby, nor is it a charity project.

Some people may see my way of thinking as "selfish," and I do feel sorry for the Platinum staff that I left behind. I myself was proud of the fact that I carried a large part of the burden at PlatinumGames, and I was actually in the position of vice president. I feel guilty towards both the company and the staff for leaving the project I was the director of while it was still in progress.

Therefore, I am aware that I did not leave the company because I felt that "I was right" or that "this is a question of right and wrong."

 

CLOVERS:

 

──When you started CLOVERS, did you receive funding from a third party?

Kamiya:
I can't go into details at this point, but apart from starting a company with Koyama, I also have a personal connection that I relied on. I explained about CLOVERS to them, and now we have received funding and are working on the project together.
However, it is important that we do this in the form of "project financing" rather than investing in the company.

--Project financing doesn't mean that the company itself has outside capital. Is there a reason you insist on this type of structure?

Kamiya:
The key point is "independence." In order to focus on creating unique and creative works, we need to be in a position where we are less susceptible to interference from our investors. So you also place importance on independence in terms of capital.

-- In terms of the studio structure, are you aiming to have a development team and handle all aspects of game production from start to finish?

Koyama:
Yes, we have a development team, but nowadays, for example, a AAA title requires 100 to 200 people. We don't plan to cover all of that in-house, but we want to be a studio that can handle the core parts of the game in-house.

Kamiya:
We currently have about 20 members, and our offices are small rental offices in Tokyo and Osaka. As it has become increasingly cramped, we plan to expand our staff after moving to a new office.

As Koyama just said, our development policy is to cooperate with external parties rather than doing everything ourselves. However, we want to work with staff who share the same beliefs as us on the core part of "showing the vision for the game and giving direction."

 

-- In terms of the scale of the titles you work on, the general indicators are AAA, AA, and A, but how big are these?

Kamiya:
Personally, I'm not interested in huge, what are generally called AAA titles.

In terms of categories, I would like to play some larger-scale games, such as AA titles, but I also want to play smaller, more exciting titles.

As for CLOVERS, we would like to increase the number of staff to 70 in the future, but instead of having 70 people handle everything, we would like to select people who will play the core role of the game. First, we will work on another title of the same scale as the one we are currently working on. If all goes well, we would like to work on something of the same scale as an indie title.

 

-- I'm already looking forward to seeing what kind of work this will be, filled with all of Kamiya's attention to detail.

Kamiya:
Yes. Speaking of which, one more thing we want to value as a company is to fully promote the creator's artistic talent and incorporate it into the game. This is exactly the reason why I decided to leave Platinum and pursue my own path in game development.

We talked about the scale of game titles, but especially when it comes to AAA titles, the aspect of not being able to fail commercially becomes stronger, and I think this draws a line at things like being dependent on individual people.

Of course, such games are important, but when I think of my personal favorite games, I like to play games that reflect the individuality of the people who made them. This includes the director's intentions and the sharp creative elements of the people working on the site. As a creator, I think that creating such works is what makes them fun.

On top of that, we want to deliver "intense games" to users who are linked to the image of the games we want to make, and we want to be a company that values that. I mentioned that the "fourth C" is something that each person thinks about and holds dear, but I want to work with colleagues who value individuality and can make games with pride in themselves, and we are actually in the process of gathering such members.

Certainly an interesting future ahead for Clovers, but hopefully Platinum still survives its rocky waters...