Hideki Kamiya left Platinum Games due to issue of “trust”

Trust was a key reason Hideki Kamiya left Platinum Games earlier this year.

In a new interview with IGN, the Bayonetta creator discussed his reasoning for leaving the developer.

“My work with PlatinumGames was based on a relationship of trust with the company,” he said. “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.”

He continued: “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.”

After making his decision, Kamiya spoke with Platinum president Atsushi Inaba and said “we were both satisfied with the conclusion we reached”.

Having left Platinum, Kamiya set up his own YouTube channel and has also been busy making curry.

In his first video he said he wanted to keep creating games, but is unable to work for the same industry for a year “due to reasons” – potentially a non-compete clause in his contract.

Still, he said his next game will be “a Hideki Kamiya game”. Funny that.

“I already have a clear idea in mind,” he said. “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’.”

He added: “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 rumours 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.”

Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami left Tango Gameworks earlier this year and, considering the pair both previously worked on games at Capcom, many have speculated they may work together again. It seems that won’t be the case.