Having left PlatinumGames, Hideki Kamiya is at a loose end for a year – so he’s set up his own YouTube channel…
In late September, PlatinumGames announced that its co-founder Hideki Kamiya was to leave in a matter of weeks. Just one day after his leaving date – 12 October – we now know what Kamiya is up to next. He’s a YouTuber.
In a quietly humorous debut video, Kamiya is shown leaving what appears to be PlatinumGames’ offices while carrying his belongings in a cardboard box. “I’m done with Platinum Games… I’m over it,” he says to the camera. “I’m so over it.”
Sitting down on a nearby bench, Kamiya then gets his audience up to speed, explaining that he was once the executive vice president and chief game designer at Platinum, and was the director of such much-loved games as Bayonetta and The Wonderful 101. Now, however, he’s “unemployed.”
Kamiya doesn’t explain exactly what led to his departure, but says his decision to quit was made some three months ago. “I’d say I left the company because I wanted to follow my beliefs as a game creator,” Kamiya says, “and to choose the path I think is right and move on.”
He then goes on to say that he isn’t retiring (“I want to keep creating games”), but hints that he may have signed some sort of non-complete clause with his former studio. “I can’t work for [the games industry] for a year,” he says, “due to reasons.”
As a result, Kamiya plans to spend the next 12 months making YouTube videos. We can only guess what those will contain.
As for where the designer might end up next, he does provide a possible clue – throughout his video, Kamiya wears an orange hat with Hamster Corporation’s logo on it. Hamster Corporation is, of course, the game company responsible for the long-running Arcade Archives series, which brings old coin-op titles to modern consoles.
Most people outside Japan probably wouldn’t have recognised the logo – we certainly didn’t – but Kamiya makes a point of leaning forward and pointing it out.
“I’m looking forward to working with you, Hamster-san,” he says, pointing to the company’s logo. “I’ll do anything. I’ll even do debugging.”
Whatever Kamiya does next, we won’t know for sure what it is until at least this time next year. Until then, the famously outspoken designer will no doubt keep himself – and us – amused with his YouTube videos. Elsewhere in his debut effort, he spends a bit of time talking about his attempts at making a homemade curry. A Kamiya cooking channel? We’d watch that.
