States Clovers provides a “new beginning”
Hideki Kamiya has expressed candidly about his choice to depart from PlatinumGames in late 2023, but in a new interview with Japanese publication Game*Spark, he delved even further into the reasons behind his exit from the Bayonetta developer.
Kamiya honed his skills in the gaming industry at Capcom’s Studio 4, where he was under the guidance of Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami, “a figure who has been incredibly significant to my career,” Kamiya told Game*Spark (translated by Automaton), “both as a creator and as my supervisor”.
It was Mikami’s approach to game creation that Kamiya aimed to uphold at PlatinumGames, although he perceived that the studio was “slowly moving towards a contemporary model of game development that doesn’t prioritize the individuality of creators,” which led to his unexpected resignation. “Even if it meant the end of my journey as a creator,” Kamiya insisted, “I couldn’t permit myself to destroy my essence to function in an environment that I didn’t believe in.”
This is certainly a quite bold statement from Kamiya, but he adheres to his principles. Aiming for a “new beginning,” the Bayonetta creator acknowledged that he is striving to infuse some of Mikami’s spirit into his new studio, Clovers. He is doing this not by directly referencing his former mentor, but rather by employing his approach as a guiding principle: “I have always made decisions based on his teachings, and I have certainly shared them with the production team.”
“I believe that this spirit will be handed down through generations,” Kamiya concluded, “and I have consciously incorporated it into our company foundation to reaffirm the values I have cherished during my years as a creator.”
While PlatinumGames continues to progress on Ninja Gaiden 4, the next major project for Clovers is the recently-announced Okami sequel, which is exciting as it sees Kamiya stepping back into the director’s role.
What do you hope to see from Kamiya’s Clovers team? Let us know in the comments.
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Jim joined Nintendo Life in 2022 and, despite his claim that The Minish Cap is the finest Zelda game and his unwavering affection for the Star Wars prequels (yes, really), he h