While Taura hasn’t revealed any details on what kinds of projects he will be involved with at Eel Game Studio, he has said that he is one of the studio’s founding members. More details will likely become clearer once the studio fills out its development team and starts full-fledged production work on its first major project.

Far from the first creative lead to have left PlatinumGames, Hideki Kamiya announced his departure from the company all the way back in 2023. Since then, Kamiya has announced that he is working with a new studio, CLOVERS, on a sequel to classic adventure game Okami.

“We are truly grateful for his creative ideas, leadership, and contribution to the growth of PlatinumGames from our start-up to this very day,” PlatinumGames wrote in announcing Kamiya’s departure. “We believe that he will continue to succeed in his future endeavours as a game creator. We are looking forward to seeing the game industry grow into a better place with him in.”

In the meantime, PlatinumGames has been working with Koei Tecmo’s Team Ninja on Ninja Gaiden 4. Back in January, Team Ninja producer Fumihiko Yasuda revealed that the idea for the studio to team up with PlatinumGames for development came from Microsoft Gaming boss Phil Spencer. It also helped that Koei Tecmo president Hisashi Koinuma and PlatinumGames president Atsushi Inaba were good friends.

“I think everyone knows that the Ninja Gaiden series has been on hold for more than a decade, but Team Ninja has been considering making a new title for a long time,” Yasuda said. “However, we were having difficulty deciding on a plan. Then Koei Tecmo president Hisashi Koinuma and PlatinumGames president Atsushi Inaba, who are from the same generation and are good friends, had a chance to discuss the matter.”

“After that, Phil Spencer from Microsoft suggested that the three companies – PlatinumGames, Koei Tecmo and Microsoft – work together on a new numbered title in the Ninja Gaiden series, and that’s how the project got started,” he continued. “We have developed action games ourselves, but because we were going to be making a new Ninja Gaiden for the first time in over a decade, PlatinumGames had already made several great action titles, such as Bayonetta and NieR: Automata, so we wanted to work with them, and that’s how the collaboration began.”

Ninja Gaiden 4 is currently in development for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. The game is slated for launch in Fall 2025, and will also be available on PC and Xbox Game Pass on day one of its release. As part of its revival of the Ninja Gaiden franchise, Team Ninja also launched an Unreal Engine 5 remaster of Ninja Gaiden 2, dubbed Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, back in January.

THE SABOTEUR

The definition of a cult classic, Pandemic Studios’ 2009 World War 2 stealth action game is one that deserved more praise than it got back in the day. Though it certainly had issues, it had more than enough strengths to make up for them, from an incredible visual aesthetic and an atmospheric setting to excellent open world action and much more.

Well, we don’t know about the entire team, but it seems the director – Takahisa Taura – is already at work on his next game. Speaking in a recent interview with VGC, PlatinumGames boss Atsushi Inaba said that Taura is working on his next game- though he stopped short of saying what that next game is, unsurprisingly.

“We’ve got to keep the superstar busy!” he said. “He’s working on something, but we can’t say what it is.” When asked if it might be announced any time soon, Inaba said: “It would be nice if that happened!”

Clearly, it’s going to be some time before we hear about this mystery project, but given how good Astral Chain was, it goes without saying that we’re excited to learn more about it. Of course, Astral Chain itself turned out to be a pretty big success, having sold over 1 million units, with its sales surpassing expectations. It would, of course, have to be a Nintendo decision, given that they own the IP, but hopefully, they and PlatinumGames are working on a sequel.

Of course, with Bayonetta 3, Project G.G., and Babylon’s Fall, PlatinumGames has got plenty of other irons in the fire as well.

PlatinumGames’ Astral Chain was a pretty well put together game, fusing the company’s trademark combat with new ideas and a fun world to explore. It’s sold better than expected but there hasn’t been much news on its future, especially when studio head Atsushi Inaba stated that its multi-platform release was up to Nintendo.

So when fans noticed a copyright change for the game, removing PlatinumGames’ name, there was some concern. Speaking to VideoGamesChronicle, Inaba responded that the change is “as it looks.”

“It’s as it is written on the website: Astral Chain is their IP and as such there are limitations on how much we feel we should talk about.” Upon asking for more clarification, a spokesperson said that the developer was “not in a position to answer this question.” For its part, Nintendo hasn’t said anything about the franchise since its release, aside from having its characters appear in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as Spirits for a brief period.

As it stands, PlatinumGames has plenty going on. It has Bayonetta 3 in development along with unannounced projects which should receive new details this year. Thus far, it’s unveiled titles like Project G.G. and a new in-house engine for its future projects while teasing another “Platinum 4″ announcement.” Then there’s Babylon’s Fall, which is still in development for PS4 and PC. Hopefully, more details on Astral Chain’s future will emerge down the line so stay tuned.

PlatinumGames is making some waves. The company has been in the news lately, and seems to be taking a bold step into self-publishing. Up until this point, however, the studio has been a work-for-hire without having sole ownership of the IPs they worked on. With getting The Wonderful 101 rights from Nintendo to launch a Kickstarter for multiple platforms, it’s led some to hope that maybe other exclusive titles the company has developed can find a similar fate. It’s hard to say how that will go, but for Platinum’s latest hit, it doesn’t look great.

In an interview with VGC, Studio Head Atsushi Inaba was interviewed about the upcoming release of The Wonderful 101. Beyond that though, while speaking about 2019’s Switch exclusive Astral Chain, he ssaid he won’t rule out it going multiplatform at some point in a similar fashion- but also said that decision comes down to Nintendo. In the end, the IP is owned by both companies, so they will both have to give the go ahead.

“In the case of Astral Chain, it’s an IP that’s owned half by Platinum and half by Nintendo,” he said. “So right now it just came out and it’s too early to say. For the time being we’re just hoping that it’s a success for the Nintendo Switch and we’ll see how it goes from there.

“Ultimately it’s Nintendo’s call, not ours. They own the publishing rights to Astral Chain, so really we have no say in that matter. We consider The Wonderful 101 an exclusive case.”

Astral Chain, unlike The Wonderful 101, seems to have been quite the success. So, it may be that Nintendo might be a little more hesitant to let that one go. We’ll just have to wait and see, but for now, if you want to play the game, you’ll need a Switch.

With good news on the hardware sales front, Nintendo also announced updated software sales numbers for its first-party Switch titles. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is still number 1 among the top selling first-party Switch titles at 22.96 million units, followed by Super Smash Bros. Ultimate at 17.68 million. However, the list has some new entries with Pokemon Sword and Shield at 16.34 million and Luigi’s Mansion 3 at 5.37 million.

While such figures aren’t too surprising for Pokemon Sword and Shield, Luigi’s Mansion 3 achieving this within two months of launch is pretty amazing. Updated sales figures for the quarter ending December 31st include The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening selling 4.19 million units; Ring Fit Adventure at 2.17 million units; Astral Chain selling 1.03 million; and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order selling 1.02 million million. Worldwide, over 310.65 million Switch titles have been sold in the console’s lifespan.

More exclusives are set to arrive in the coming months with the likes of Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition. With Nintendo increasing its forecast from 18 million Switch consoles by the end of the current fiscal year to 19.5 million, it should be an interesting quarter. In the meantime, check out the 10 top selling first-party Switch titles below:

1. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – 22.96 million
2. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate – 17.68 million
3. Super Mario Odyssey – 16.59 million
4. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 16.34 million
5. Pokemon Sword / Pokemon Shield – 16.06 million
6. Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! / Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee! – 11.76 million
7. Splatoon 2 – 9.82 million
8. Super Mario Party – 9.12 million
9. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe – 5.85 million
10. Luigi’s Mansion 3 – 5.37 million

Cortex – Path of Exile: Synthesis League

Leaving aside the confusing League mechanics, this encounter was about fighting several difficult bosses in a row. Each has their own one-shot mechanics; each has their own vaguely discernible moves that are tough to dodge. You don’t really know what’s happening much of the time until the fight kind of ends (or you die). But for all intents and purposes, it’s a tough fight, even for the best builds.

Near the end of last year, Nintendo partnered once again with studio PlatinumGames on another action game, Astral Chain. The game had a lot of similarities to Platinum’s previous works but also had several adjustments that were welcome critically. The game sold better than expected according to its Director, making it most likely one of the developer’s best selling titles. Now it’s getting a special spot on the Nintendo crossover event, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

As announced via the official Twitter, later this week a Spirit Board event will feature spirits from the action game, including the likes of Kyle and Lappy and the various villains you have to slash your way through. The event will last for five days, so get those spirits while you can.

Astral Chain and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate are both available now exclusively on Nintendo Switch. The Spirit Board event between the two will start on January 17th. Keep an eye out for the latter too as the next DLC character will be revealed the day before on the 16th.

Starting on 1/17 for 5 days, the #SmashBrosUltimate spirit event "Chain the Future to Spirits!" will be held. Neuron's newest recruits, as well as Kyle and Lappy will invade the Spirit Board! Don't miss out! pic.twitter.com/mXDaRmmPZ4

— Nintendo Versus (@NintendoVS) January 14, 2020

Big changes are afoot for developer PlatinumGames. The company has entered into a potentially big deal with Chinese multimedia giant Tencent. It comes at a good time, as it seems the move has came after what could be their most successful game in years, if not ever, with Astral Chain.

The game was critically reviewed very well, but so far there’s been no word yet on what the game sold from either Platinum or publisher Nintendo. In a new interview with Famitsu (via Ryokutya), the Director of the game, Takahisa Taura, revealed that the game sold “more than expected.” Taura didn’t give any specific numbers, but it sounds like both Platinum and Nintendo are happy with what the action game ended up selling. Hopefully, that spells good things for the upcoming Bayonetta 3, which we’ll hopefully hear more about soon.

Astral Chain is available now on Nintendo Switch, and you can read our take on the game through here.

Super Mario Party

The infamous ruiner of friendships debuts for the Nintendo Switch. Super Mario Party takes the more traditional approach to the series’ formula, introducing new mini-games, some with motion controls, and a new mode called Partner Party where teams of two can work together. There’s even a mode called Toad’s Rec Room where multiple Switches can be combined for gameplay across multiple screens. Super Mario Party captures the amazing feeling of losing to never-ending nonsense, which may or may not be your definition of a good time.