There are certain things within the gaming industry that can be expected to the extent that when they happen, they’re not a cause for concern. One of those things is “transitions.” No, not layoffs; those are different and always bad. However, when it comes to one person leaving a company for another or going to set up their own company to try and make different kinds of titles, that can happen quite a bit. Sometimes, it’s for personal reasons or creative ones, and sometimes developers want something new. The problem with PlatinumGames is that a lot of these “transitions” are apparently happening all at once!
The latest news comes from ResetEra, where Bayonetta Origins director Abebe Tinari was pointed out to have changed his online CV so that it didn’t say Platinum as his home anymore, but Housemarque. That’s a big change, and that’s a huge loss for the developer. If you recall, the spinoff game he headed up was an attempt by Platinum and a certain other person to let the “younger developers” of the group have a chance at making something unique. Abebe made quite a unique game for the Nintendo Switch, and it made many wonder if other projects like that may arrive in the future.
However, now that Hideki Kamiya and others have left PlatinumGames, many are wondering if the fan-favorite developer is doing a “death kneel,” as some would put it. According to rumors, there have been multiple key departures from Platinum, as shown by the LinkedIn profiles of many people who have removed the developer from their records.
The rumors further note that the company’s CEO has been making constant bad decisions within his own team and with publishers, making them a bit “persona non-grata.” This can be personified by Hideki Kamiya, who was one of the group’s “biggest names” by far, and was the driving force behind many of its biggest titles, including the growth of Bayonetta and her series. He noted in an interview after getting the chance to make his own studio that if he was “still happy” with what Platinum was doing, he would still be there.
He went on to note that he needed to create his own studio because it would give him the creative freedom he felt he needed to keep making the games he loved.
If more key people from within Platinum leave, the studio might not have a leg to stand on soon enough.
