{"id":41559,"date":"2024-12-16T19:26:35","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T10:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=41559"},"modified":"2024-12-25T09:35:40","modified_gmt":"2024-12-25T00:35:40","slug":"bayonetta-creator-hideki-kamiya-says-his-creativity-would-have-died-had-he-continued-to-work-at-platinumgames","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/bayonetta-creator-hideki-kamiya-says-his-creativity-would-have-died-had-he-continued-to-work-at-platinumgames\/","title":{"rendered":"Bayonetta creator Hideki Kamiya says his creativity \u201cwould have died\u201d had he continued to work at PlatinumGames\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At The Game Awards last week, it was revealed that Hideki Kamiya is now working on a sequel to Okami<\/a> at the newly-founded CLOVERS. But why did the game creator decide to leave PlatinumGames back in 2023 and spend a year unemployed? In a recent interview on Denfaminicogame<\/a>r, Kamiya sheds light on his circumstances at the time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On September 26, 2023, the creator of Bayonetta and Viewtiful Joe Hideki Kamiya publicly announced that he would be leaving PlatinumGames on October 12 of that year. However, Kamiya reveals that this decision had already been reached within the company around mid-July. \u201cAt the time, there was a mismatch between my way of thinking in terms of creativity and the company\u2019s new policy, so CEO (Atsushi) Inaba and I had been negotiating for over 3 months, but we just couldn’t reach an agreement.\u201d Kamiya explains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Okami
Okami<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Apparently, former Clover Studios\u2019 head Inaba and Kamiya had many long, calm discussions about the matter before realizing that they were unable to come up with a solution that was agreeable to both of them. Therefore, Kamiya eventually decided to leave PlatinumGames. \u201cI felt like my creativity would die if I continued to work there,\u201d Kamiya sums up, making sure to emphasize that there is no bad blood between him and Inaba. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Okami and Viewtiful Joe creator did not leave PlatinumGames with the intention of founding a new company. \u201cI didn\u2019t think at all about what would happen after that. It wasn\u2019t like I quit because I had something I wanted to do, or that I had been offered a new job,\u201d Kamiya reveals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Viewtiful
Viewtiful Joe<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Talking with freelance game designer Kenta Koyama, who had been working with him on Project G.G (the unreleased third game in Kamiya’s hero trilogy), Kamiya said \u201cI told Koyama that I would continue making games if there was a studio that would accept me. If there wasn\u2019t, I would go back to my parents’ house. Komiya then said to me, \u2018Kamiya-san, if that’s the case, why don’t we work together?\u2019 But I didn\u2019t take it seriously at the time.\u201d Before Kamiya left PlatinumGames, other staff came up to him to say that they had joined the company because of him, \u201cwhich surprised me as I thought they just viewed me as a grumpy old guy who causes problems,\u201d Kamiya quips.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bayonetta
Bayonetta 2<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After leaving, Kamiya considered asking another game company to take him in and even contemplated going freelance \u201clike Yoko Taro<\/a>\u201d of NieR series fame. However, \u201cIt occurred to me that rather than working on my own, I needed to create a place where I could make games with people like those who reached out to me when I left PlatinumGames,\u201d Kamiya comments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why was Hideki Kamiya unemployed for one year?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At this point, Kamiya sought the help of Koyama to establish CLOVERS. However, for a year after Kamiya\u2019s departure from PlatinumGames, he prominently referred to himself as jobless- with even his Twitter handle being \u201cUnemployed Hideki Kamiya.\u201d The reason for this was the one-year non-competition clause that Kamiya had to abide by upon leaving PlatinumGames. Remaining completely unemployed for exactly one year, it wasn\u2019t until October 13, 2024 that Kamiya could join CLOVERS and play an active role in the new company.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n