A few weeks ago, PlatinumGames posted on their account Twitter a short press release to reveal the departure ofHideki Kamiya :
— PlatinumGames Inc. (@platinumgames) September 25, 2023
“We regret to announce that Hideki Kamiya will be leaving PlatinumGames on October 12, 2023. We are truly grateful for his creative ideas, leadership and contribution to the growth of PlatinumGames, from our beginnings to date. We believe he will continue to be successful in his future ventures as a game creator. We look forward to seeing the gaming industry become a better place with his contributions. We wish him all the best for the future.”
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An important departure from the man who is for many the face of the studio. And the person concerned took advantage of the situation to open chain Youtube on which he published a short video in which he talks about his departure, cardboard in hand, in the small park which adjoins the buildings housing the studio. Starting by summarizing his career, the designer also seems happy to be able to rest, since he announces that he is taking advantage of his free time to “watch YouTube, Netflix and Disney+“, but also being able to cook a little, after years of restaurant meals, konbini sandwiches and UberEats orders.
Hideki Kamiya seems to have a little difficulty expressing the reasons for his departure, but simply says that he “left the company so I could follow my beliefs as a game maker, choose the path I believe is right, and move forward“. He also insists that he is not retiring, has not been poached by Chinese companies, nor will he continue to work for PlatinumGames behind the scenes, three rumors gaining momentum on the Internet after the release of the studio’s press release.
If he says, in a humorous tone, that he is ready to do anything to work for Hamster Corporationincluding doing debugging, he also announces more seriously that we will have to wait a little before knowing the rest of his adventures in the field of video games because he “cannot work in the same industry for a year, due to certain reasons” (most likely a non-competition clause in his contract). We will therefore not see him continue his famous elsewhere for the moment GG Projectsupposed to be the final episode of its superhero trilogy.
On the topic of his channel Youtube, Hideki Kamiya announces that he doesn’t really have any plans. The creator of Bayonetta makes a small reference to the chain of Masahiro Sakurai saying that “with a career as a game designer spanning over thirty years, I promise to give you completely useless advice for making games. […] I think I’m going to post videos completely devoid of educational content“. Always joking, he announces his desire to do a lot of sponsored partnerships to make money, even if he is afraid that his unhealthy shyness will prevent him from doing things with people he doesn’t know, which which could be a hindrance in his new career as an influencer.
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We also sense, between two lines of humor, that this shyness could have caused him a problem in the professional field: he in fact expresses his disenchantment with the fact of having to establish working relationships and, he says it himself, “I prefer to do things alone“. But because Kamiya stays true to himself, the humor never stays far away, and the video obviously ends with him closing the door to his Lamborghini Countach saying “on the way to Pôle Emploi! See you soon !“.
Hideki Kamiya’s video on his departure from PlatinumGames
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