Change is happening all over the gaming industry, despite what some people would have you believe at their “award shows,” and it has many gamers wondering what will happen next. For example, big developers have had many layoffs, and even whole studios are closing. Then, there’s the situation with Hideki Kamiya. Despite being one of the people behind the success of PlatinumGames, Kamiya suddenly left the studio earlier this year and has been doing YouTube videos ever since due to his non-compete clause. Since then, gamers have wondered why he left.
While IGN was able to get an answer from Kamiya during an interview, it might not be the answer you expect:
“My work with PlatinumGames was based on a relationship of trust with the company. I decided to leave because I felt that the direction the company was heading in was different from my beliefs as a developer. Without that element of trust, I couldn’t continue working there, and so I left, so that I could continue working in what I consider to be the right way. I don’t think of games as products, but rather as works of art. I want to put my artistry into games and deliver games that could only be made by Hideki Kamiya, so that players can enjoy Hideki Kamiya games exactly as they are. I decided to leave the company and forge my own path, to continue making games that reflect the developers who made them.”
If you’re confused about what he meant by some of this, Platinum has gotten a chunk of itself bought by Tencent, which is rather infamous in the gaming space. Kamiya might see this as a sign of having “corporate ownership,” which is something the company didn’t want in its early days.
