PlatinumGames is Shifting Focus to “Games That Can be Enjoyed for a Longer Period of Time”

PlatinumGames has delivered a number of best-in-class action titles over the years, and with games like Bayonetta, Bayonetta 2, Vanquish, NieR: Automata, Astral Chain, and many more under its belt, the Japanese studio has established itself as a leader in the single player action space. The future, however, might look very different for PlatinumGames.

In a recent interview with Famitsu (translated by VGC), while talking about the upcoming Hideki Kamiya-directed Project G.G., Atsushi Inaba – the newly appointed CEO of PlatinumGames – seemed to suggest that future games by the developer will be different from what it’s been known for in the most (which isn’t the first time he’s said something along those lines), before adding that he wants Platinum titles to be “enjoyed for longer periods of time”- which, of course, seems to suggest that the studio is eyeing the live service space.

“Project G.G. is still in the stage of testing various things, so I can’t tell you much about it, but when it comes to future game production, we want to focus on creating games that are different from the past,” he said. “I would like to focus on creating games that can be enjoyed and loved for a longer period of time.”

Inaba went on to add that while PlatinumGames would still “like to cherish” single player releases like the upcoming Bayonetta 3, its future projects will move in a different direction, with the change being brought about by “the changes in the market”.

“Of course, we would like to cherish and create small but brilliantly conceived games such as Sol Cresta, and games in which you can enjoy the process of clearing the game by going through one-off, well-designed stages, such as Bayonetta,” Inaba said. “However, the projects that we are trying to create for the future will be different in terms of their structure. Considering the changes in the market over the next five years or so, I think it is absolutely necessary for us to do this. I’m sorry for being so vague, but I think that’s all I can tell you right now.”

PlatinumGames has made a number of moves over the last couple of years that have hinted at the studio’s plans to expand and to adopt new strategies. The developer opened a second studio in Tokyo in 2020, and later confirmed that the new studio would be focused on developing live service games for consoles. Platinum also confirmed in 2020 that it was working on a new in-house engine to help make “bigger, more expressive games than ever before, and with greater ease.”