Bayonetta, Devil May Cry Director Says Goodbye To PlatinumGames

Hideki Kamiya, the man behind iconic character action games such as Bayonetta, Devil May Cry, and Viewtiful Joe, announced that he’ll leave legendary action game studio PlatinumGames after almost 20 years there.

Kamiya posted a message in Japanese on X (formerly Twitter) on September 25 announcing his departure, which is set for October 12. He later followed that post up with an English version that essentially said the same thing: although it was a tough decision that came with lots of consideration, he’s leaving PlatinumGames on his own accord.

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“We regret to announce that Hideki Kamiya will be leaving PlatinumGames on October 12, 2023,” the studio wrote. “We are truly grateful for his creative ideas, leadership, and contribution to the growth of PlatinumGames from our start-up to this very day. We believe that he will continue to succeed in his future endeavors as a game creator. We are looking forward to seeing the game industry grow into a better place with him in it. We wish him the best for the future!”

Kotaku reached out to PlatinumGames for comment.

Kamiya has had an illustrious career in the games industry. Starting as a designer at Capcom in 1994, he’d spend nearly a decade working on projects like Devil May Cry and Resident Evil before moving on to the now-defunct Capcom subsidiary Clover Studio (Viewtiful Joe, Okami) in 2004.Capcom shuttered Clover just two years after it opened, and Kamiya co-founded PlatinumGames shortly after in 2006. While he was already recognizable, it’d be his work at PlatinumGames that’d make him a household name. Games like Astral Chain, Bayonetta, and The Wonderful 101—alongside collaborations with Microsoft for the canceled Scalebound that was unceremoniously canceled after four years of development and Square Enix for the legendary Nier: Automata—solidified Kamiya as an action game aficionado and established PlatinumGames as the master of the genre. Even though he wasn’t directly involved in every one of the studio’s projects—like the action third-person shooter Vanquish, the open-world beat ‘em up Anarchy Reigns, and my personal fave, the over-the-top action-adventure game Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance—Kamiya’s presence can still be felt.

It’s a bummer to see Kamiya leave a studio he not only co-founded but also helped propel into the limelight with such critically acclaimed games. He told us to keep our eyes peeled, though, so I’m sure he’s got something delicious cooking in that game development oven of his.

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