Hideki Kamiya Seemingly Confirms More Departures From PlatinumGames

17 hours ago 19

Following reports that PlatinumGames — the studio behind the Bayonetta series, Astral Chain, and who helped Square Enix on NieR:Automata — had lost several key directors and creators back in December 2024, former vice president Hideki Kamiya appears to have confirmed that at least five directors have left the company.

Earlier today, Kamiya, who directed the original Bayonetta and The Wonderful 101 before leaving Platinum in October 2023, published a new YouTube video on his personal channel (thanks VGC), where he largely responds to comments from fans.

But at the end of the video, Kamiya has a "bonus" section which features (his words) footage of a "Former PlatinumGames directors' Six Heavenly Kings drinking party."

In the footage, we can see Abebe Tinari (director of Bayonetta Origins, who confirmed his departure back in January), Yusuke Miyata (Bayonetta 3's director), Takashi Taura (Astral Chain's director, who we reported on last month for potentially forming a new studio), Kenji Saito (lead director on Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance), and Masaki Yamanaka (Anarchy Reigns and Resident Evil character designer) alongside Kamiya.

Among those names, only Tinari had confirmed his departure, and Miyata, Taura, and Saito were all rumoured to have left.

It's a hit list of big names from PlatinumGames, a company that seems to be going through an unusual time at the moment. This video is hot on the heels of the announcement of the brand new Ninja Gaiden 4, which Platinum is developing with Koei Tecmo, as well as the removal of several games from the developer's website.

Closing out the video, Kamiya says "Games are made by people. No matter where they go from here, they'll create things that only they can. You better give it your all, too..."

You can watch the full video below, but let us know what you think of this news in the comments.