At this point, it's fair to say that PlatinumGames is one of the most respected studios in the entire video game industry, especially when it comes to pure action games.
However, new CEO (and co-founder) Atsushi Inaba hinted to Famitsu in a recent interview that the studio may head in a new direction in the future — one that fans might not like as much the accountants do.
Keep putting quarters in —
According to VGC's translation of the interview, Inaba said that he would like the company to make games that can be enjoyed "for a longer period of time," which he contrasts with "one-off" games like Bayonetta. He also said that Hideki Kamiya's new game, code-named "Project GG," is an example of a game that is "different" from the ones the company released in the past.
While Inaba stopped short of screaming out, "we're making a live game!" to rapturous applause, it's fair to say that the interview strongly implies that the studio is going in that direction. Given that Platinum is one of the best single-player-focused studios out there, bar none, it could be seen as a troubling development.
An unfortunate kind of sense —
However, given Platinum's history as a work-from-hire studio — for example, the company can’t make a sequel to the excellent Metal Gear Rising without Konami’s approval — we can understand why they'd want to try their hand at something that can produce continuous revenue. Unfortunately, the reality is that making live games is really hard. Many high-profile flops like Ubisoft's recently-shuttered Hyper Scape can attest to that fact, and given that Platinum has no experience in that direction, it's hard to know if they can succeed at it.
No experience so far, we should say, as the studio will release Babylon's Fall in just a few weeks, which features online multiplayer elements. Look: as long as we get Bayonetta 3 this year, the studio can try whatever it wants. But as huge fans of its work, we would hate to see one of the best studios in gaming fall by the wayside because it's chasing trends that other studios have already capitalized on. If you're curious, Project GG is apparently some kind of follow-up to Kamiya's Viewtiful Joe and The Wonderful 101-style superhero games, and the company is also making a shoot 'em up called Sol Cresta.
