In the five years since Kenichi Sato was promoted to president of Platinum Games following Tatsuya Minami’s departure in April 2016, the company has seen unprecedented success. From Astral Chain and Nier: Automata to The Wonderful 101: Remastered and World of Demons, even more releases are expected in 2022, and the developer and publisher is promising to keep the exciting gaming experience coming. Content with the current state of the company, Sato has announced that he stepped down from his role at the end of December 2021. He will continue supporting Platinum Games in an advisory role.
The former vice-president of Platinum Games Atsushi Inaba will take on Sato’s role. Inaba is also the head producer of the studio’s development division and has worked on popular games including the original Phoenix Wright trilogy at Capcom, Okami at Clover, and the upcoming Platinum title Bayonetta 3.
“After I assumed the position of president in April 2016, we focused on the game development business with the desire to bring smiles to people around the world and realized a capital alliance with Tencent in December 2019,” Sato said in an interview. We now need to accelerate our efforts to create new games that only PlatinumGames can create, and I have decided that the best way to do this is to hand over the presidency to Inaba, who has been the studio head of PlatinumGames for many years and has demonstrated his skills in the creative side of games.”
Inaba has posted a message on the studio’s website addressing what games mean to him.
“Creating a new, enjoyable game starts with the creator being able to enjoy the game themselves. The creator then has to continually build on their idea until they have something that communicates that sense of fun to anyone who experiences it – that consideration of the user makes all the difference,” he states. “People speaking different languages, from different backgrounds, all brought together through a controller. Made to smile by a new type of game. It connects us, and sets us free. It’s a job that I’m extremely proud of. As I move forward towards the new challenges of the future, I hope to provide more and more experiences for all our users to enjoy.”
