PlatinumGames which is known for titles like Nier: Automata and Bayonetta, has said that it is working on a project that is “unlike anything done before.”
Studio head Atsushi Inama said to VGC in an interview that 2019 will be an incredibly important year for PlatinumGames. However, he did not say what or how many games the studio has in development currently. Though he does say that it is going to be a year of some major new approaches, new challenges, new methods for them, and that at least two of the projects will be new independent IPs owned entirely by the studio.
Right now we’re in the middle of designing something that has never been done before. 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.
It does not mean that the studio is not interested in collaborations, but that the studio seems committed to working on wholly-owned IPs and self-publishing for now.
It’s absolutely the truth that there are cases where you want to do a sequel but if you don’t own the IP, you can’t do it. It’s that simple, and quite frankly in the case of Bayonetta, it took a lot of time and energy to get it to the point where sequels could be made. It wasn’t as simple as picking up the phone and asking, ‘hey, can we do this?’ There were a lot of pieces that needed to fall into place and a lot of negotiating that had to occur.
That’s a pain. That’s a hassle. For us as creators, we want to get to the point where self-publishing allows us to own our IP and do what we want with it, including making sequels. So the faster we can have that freedom, the better it will be for all the creators here.
If PlatinumGames has hinted that 2019 will be a big year, it could mean we could be seeing more than one brand new announcement this year, and with E3 coming up there is a good chance at least of them might happen next month.
What do you think PlatinumGames is working on? Post your comments below.
