In September 2023, game developer and Bayonetta creator Hideki Kamiya left PlatinumGames. Since Kaimya was one of the studio’s founding members and later its Vice-President, this announcement came as a shock to fans around the globe. Since then, Kamiya has addressed the situation with his characteristic sense of humor, answering questions from fans on his newly opened YouTube channel.
Born in 1970 in Shinshu Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, Kamiya began his career at Capcom, where he was the director on Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe and Okami. He later cofounded PlatinumGames, where he directed Bayonetta and The Wonderful 101, before becoming Vice-President, as well as the head of all the studio’s development teams.
IGN Japan sat down with Kamiya at an open workspace in Osaka to find out more about why he left PlatinumGames, his plans for his YouTube channel, and what he’s planning to do when his garden leave expires next year. He also talked about his relationship with his Capcom mentor Shinji Mikami, with whom he will be sharing a stage for a joint interview this weekend.
You have talked about it already to some degree, but why did you decide to leave PlatinumGames?
“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.”
When you decided to leave, how did PlatinumGames President and your longtime business partner Atsushi Inaba take the news? And how did your team of developers react?
“I had many deep discussions with Inaba, and I came to my decision to leave only after we had agreed. Inaba also has his own set of beliefs as the head of the company. Although his beliefs differed from my own, we talked it out thoroughly, so we were both satisfied with the conclusion we reached.
“The reaction from the development teams was different. I never took my role at the company lightly, but I realized at that moment that they trusted me more deeply than I had expected. The fact that many of the team seemed so sad about it made me think deeply about this point.
“First, I explained the reasons for my decision to quit to the whole team as a group. After that, I told them that anyone was welcome to come to talk with me privately at any time, and many of them did. Some of them sat and talked with me for two or three hours, some cried, and some others thought my decision to leave was irresponsible. Some of them said that they came to work at PlatinumGames because they wanted to work with me specifically.
“I don’t regret my decision to quit – I think this was the right decision, and it was a decision I made out of respect for my own stance as a developer. However, it makes me sad to think that I can’t work with the staff on my team anymore. I feel sorry about that.”
After leaving PlatinumGames, you quickly set up your own YouTube channel. What was the reason for that?
“I really just opened the channel on a whim. You know how in Hollywood movies, when someone leaves their job, you see them exiting the building with all their belongings in a cardboard box? I thought it would be fun to shoot a scene like that. I did that in the first video, though, so now I’ve already achieved everything I set out to do!
“However, since then, viewers started asking me questions based on my channel, so I have been answering some of them in my videos. A YouTube channel is a great way to interact with fans.
“I was especially happy that some people commented that they were surprised at how approachable I come across in the videos. When I post text-only comments on Twitter, I might come across as a scary and unapproachable person. The reason I started using Twitter in the first place was because I wanted to be able to show people who were interested in my games what kind of person I was. However, I think that my harsher side took the spotlight, which caused misunderstandings. So I’m glad if people’s perception of me has changed now that they can see me talking in person in my videos.”
What kind of videos do you plan to post going forward?
“Right now I’m just trying to think of videos that are easy to make! I may continue to upload videos where I answer fan questions. However, as I have mentioned in a video already, I am unable to make games for the next year due to contractual obligations. On the other hand, once that year is up, when I have news to announce then I hope my YouTube channel will give me a platform to announce it. I’m still figuring it all out. But I want to create games that players can have a close relationship with, so I’d love to find a way to involve everyone in the process of making games together.”
You have a talk session coming up in Tokyo as part of Archipel Caravan on December 16 together with Shinji Mikami, who was your mentor at Capcom. This is billed as a casual conversation-style interview with a limited live audience, but how do you feel about chatting with Mikami on stage?
“I’ve seen people say for a long time that they wanted to see a conversation between me and Mr. Mikami. Mikami-san and I have a very deep connection: He was a great mentor to me, and was the director of my first project at Capcom, which was the start of my career; and later he also served as the head of the development department. He is someone who has encouraged me to grow not only as a game developer, but also as a member of society. I am who I am today because of the guidance I received from him. Because he is such an important person, it’s not so easy for me to just sit down and say, ‘How’s it going?’ So although I had received several requests from players over the years to do a talk together with him, I thought there was no way.
“However, this time, I was contacted by the organizer of the event as an official offer. This was just at the time when I had left my job at PlatinumGames and I had reached a major turning point. And the same goes for Mr. Mikami, I think, as he has also recently quit his job and will perhaps be making a new start. So I decided to accept the offer, thinking that it would be a good idea to have a public conversation with him at least once in my life.
“To be honest, I’m really nervous about how the conversation will go! But I’m also excited about it. I have never talked with Mr. Mikami in a place like this. I live in Kansai (Western Japan) and Mikami-san is in Tokyo, so we rarely see each other these days. When I have the chance, I go out to dinner with him, and we often talk on the phone, but these are completely private conversations, so this will be the first time we’ll get to speak with each other publicly.”
Since this is a public event and neither of you have announced your next projects yet, some fans might speculate that you will announce a project together during the event… Will you?
“I have absolutely nothing to announce, really. I’m just an unemployed person!”
A year is a long time to spend off the board, but do you have an idea of what you’d like to do when you are able to return to game development?
“You mean in terms of my ideal situation, right? Because even if I say that I want to work at a major game company, if they don’t choose to hire me then it won’t happen. Even if I choose to start my own company, that won’t work unless I have staff who want to join me. Could I go it alone? Even if I create something new as a freelancer and shop it around, that won’t work if I get nothing but rejections. I can say I want to do X or Y, but I can’t realize it all by myself. With all of that in mind, my main intention is to stay true to the philosophy of ‘creating things with freedom of thought’.
“PlatinumGames has placed a priority on growing as a company. But I personally have no interest in growing a company for the sake of corporate growth. The desire to make interesting games is the first step for me, so I want to stay true to that. ‘Creating things with freedom of thought’ means that if my friends come together and say that they would like to work with me, I want to be able to consider ways to collaborate with them to make it happen, so that we can make games together.”
Do you have an idea in mind for your next game?
“Actually, yes, I already have a clear idea in mind. I would like to translate this vision in my head into a full proposal as soon as I am able to do so. And of course, I also have an idea of what I can do to make the project a reality. But if you ask me specifically what kind of game it will be, all I can say at this stage is, ‘It’ll be a Hideki Kamiya game’.
“One thing I would like to make clear is that I did not quit PlatinumGames so that I could make a particular game elsewhere, or that I quit the company to work with a specific partner under better conditions. I hear baseless rumors saying that I’ll be working with this or that person, but nothing has been decided yet. When I left PlatinumGames, I genuinely had no other plans lined up. After I quit, I spent some time just lying around watching movies and TV shows. But when I started to think about it, I found I already had a clear idea of a game I would like to make. I can’t start putting these ideas into action yet, but I’ve started to think about ways to potentially make it happen. That said, making games rarely goes the way you imagined, so I want to explore my options and find the route that works best for me.”
Is there anything you’d like to say to the Hideki Kamiya fans who are watching and waiting for your future projects?
“As I said earlier, I would like to create games that clearly convey the authorship of ‘a Hideki Kamiya game’. That is my belief as a developer. And of course I would like to announce my next work as soon as possible. For now, if you’re interested in me, please come and check out my thoughts on Twitter and YouTube anytime!”
Additional reporting: Ryu Konno
Image credit: Daniel Robson
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