PlatinumGames have had a rocky history as far as working with publishers is concerned- though their games have, for the most part, been consistently solid (at the very least), on a few occasions, they’ve had to resort to making licensed products that don’t live up to their standards of quality. Similarly, in some cases, especially with Bayonetta, the studio has had to rely on the whims of publishers to secure the future of the franchise- Bayonetta 2 and Bayonetta 3, for instance, simply wouldn’t have existed if it weren’t for Nintendo.
Now, though, the studio is looking to adopt different approaches that allow them greater control over their IP. While speaking with VGC, PlatinumGames studio head Atsushi Inaba spoke about the same, mentioning that said new approach has allowed them a much greater degree of creative freedom and control.
In fact, as a result of this, PlatinumGames are also currently working on a new secret unannounced project, which Inaba says is “unlike anything else”, and that the game that the studio is designing it to be is “something that has never been done before”- a fact that excites the development team greatly.
“Right now we’re in the middle of designing something that has never been done before,” said Inaba. “I know a lot of people say that, but the game we’re working on truly is unlike anything else. Even for our varied history of veteran game developers, this is something that has never been designed before. So from a game design perspective, we’re very excited right now.”
Even beyond unannounced new titles in development at the studio, there’s a lot that we do know is coming- but most of those projects don’t have firm release dates attached either. For instance, there’s Babylon’s Fall, which they are making in conjunction with Square Enix- though hopefully we’ll hear more about that at the latter’s E3 press event come June.
Word on Bayonetta 3 has been very scant ever since its announcement too. We know Platinum wants to raise the bar even over its incredible predecessor, while in September last year they said that development on the upcoming sequel was coming along nicely, but beyond that, we’ve barely heard peep from them about the game. In their latest financial reports, Nintendo listed Bayonetta 3’s release date as “TBA” still, so there’s no knowing how soon (or not) we might see the game.
That said, PlatinumGames do have other irons in the first. Fellow Nintendo Switch exclusive Astral Chain is out on August 30 this year.