Hideki Kamiya, one of the founders of PlatinumGames and the creative mind behind Bayonetta, Devil May Cry, and the Viewtiful Joe series is leaving the studio he helped create, according to a post on Twitter made by Kamiya and one made by PlatinumGames. Kamiya’s resignation is effective October 12.
“We are truly grateful for [Kamiya’s] creative ideas, leadership, and contribution to the growth of PlatinumGames from our start-up to this very day,” said the Bayonetta and Nier: Automata developer in a post on Twitter. It goes on to wish Kamiya success “in his future endeavors as a game creator.”
In a post made to his personal Twitter account, Kamiya elaborated on his decision to leave Platinum, saying “this came after a lot of consideration based on my own beliefs. and was by no means an easy decision to make,” while also confirming in a reply that he will continue to create “in my Hideki Kamiya way.” This, plus the studio’s well wishes, seem to suggest that Kamiya will continue creating games.
Kamiya has become notorious on Twitter for his liberal use of the block button, making it very clear that, among other reasons, responding to him in any language other than Japanese would earn an insta-block.
Kamiya’s career began with Capcom, where he served as a system planner for the original BIOHAZARD, known in the west as Resident Evil. He then went on to become the chief game designer and director for the sequel, BIOHAZARD 2 / Resident Evil 2. Kamiya, Viewtiful Joe producer Atsushi Inaba, and the creator of Resident Evil Shinji Mikami would create Seeds in 2006, the studio that would merge with Tatsuya Minami’s Odd Inc. to form PlatinumGames in 2007. It was there where Kamiya would work on titles such as Bayonetta, The Wonderful 101, and Astral Chain.
