Hideki Kamiya addressed a few popular fan questions in a recent YouTube video, including one very big one about his most famous creation.
Oh, sorry. I don’t mean Dante, as seen in the Devil May Cry Series, or Claire Redfield, one of several characters he developed with Isao Oishi for Resident Evil 2. I mean Cereza, AKA Bayonetta, who also happens to be the last character Kamiya worked on before he left PlatinumGames.
In a video simply titled “Kamiya Responds to your Comments! Part 3”, Kamiya clarifies his role in Bayonetta 3, as some fans got the impression that he was not part of its production. He was the director on the first Bayonetta, and as he put it, he ‘stepped back’ and became a supervisor for Bayonetta 2 and Bayonetta 3. However, he still handled the story and character settings to keep Bayonetta’s universe consistent. He later clarified that he did the same thing for Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon.
And now for the big question. Kamiya reiterated as he had said in previous interviews, that he intended to make nine episodes to make one Bayonetta Saga. However, it now seems that he will have to take those plans to his grave.
As Kamiya explained further, he does not own the Bayonetta IP. He believes that the people who do own it (PlatinumGames) will continue the story without him.
It is unfortunate that Kamiya and PlatinumGames clearly did not separate on good terms, and it is unlikely that he will work with them on his properties in the future. It does seem worth pointing out that Kamiya’s creative fingerprints are all over other games he made with PlatinumGames. He definitely took ownership of The Wonderful 101. Before that, however, he also worked on Madworld and Anarchy Reigns, and he performed the same story/creative role he did in the latter two Bayonetta games for Sol Cresta.
He also has two unrealized projects. Scalebound, which was cancelled by Microsoft, may be owned by the gaming giant, with PlatinumGames possibly having partial ownership. Subsequently, Project GG was intended to be the third game in Kamiya’s hero trilogy, after Viewtiful Joe and The Wonderful 101. If the first two games demonstrate their inspiration in Kamen Rider and Thunderbirds, respectively, Project GG seemed to hold its inspiration in Ultraman on its sleeve so closely that it was unmistakable. (Or maybe I’m wrong and this is a Johnny Sokko tribute.) Unlike Scalebound, Project GG does not appear to have been cancelled, hopefully because it could turn out to be a real licensed game in the future.
We should acknowledge here that Bayonetta 3 did turn out to be divisive among fans because of its story elements, which Kamiya freely admits where primarily from him. We can’t say Kamiya’s creations can’t survive without him; as I not so subtly pointed out above, Kamiya’s body of work includes characters from two very big IPs that have sprung forward into different directions from when he worked on them.
So maybe not just Bayonetta, but The Wonderful 101, Project GG, the Cresta franchise, and the Madworld/Anarchy Reigns universe might reappear in the future. I wouldn’t hold my breath for Scalebound, but who knows?
They may not reapper in the future in the exact same ways that Kamiya envisioned them, but if PlatinumGames’ future creators are also fans of these games, they will know to move them forward in directions that will grow these games and their fanbases.
You can watch Kamiya’s latest YouTube below.
