Bayonetta maker PlatinumGames has lost every one of its top directors

A worrying amount of game directors, including the ones for Bayonetta 3 and Astral Chain, have ditched PlatinumGames, but it’s not known if they’re joining Hideki Kamiya’s new studio or not. It’s not hard to feel pessimistic about the future of PlatinumGames. The departure of co-founder and Bayonetta creator Hideki Kamiya in 2023 was shocking but at the end of the day he was still just one man.

A year later, though, and around 25 of his colleagues have also jumped ship to join him at his new studio, Clovers, to work on the upcoming Ōkami sequel for Capcom. PlatinumGames itself has never explained exactly who has left and who has stayed, only attempting to assure fans that everything was fine. But now Kamiya himself appears to have confirmed another five departures from the studio, all of whom were prominent directors.

In a segment of his newest YouTube video, Kamiya shared footage of what he describes as a ‘former PlatinumGames directors’ drinking party,’ insinuating everyone in attendance is no longer employed at the studio. The five figures in question are:. Aside from Miyata, those directors were all suspected to have left after they removed references to PlatinumGames from their social media accounts. It’s unclear if any of them are now employed at Clovers with Kamiya or are looking for other opportunities elsewhere.

Regardless, it’s a far worse situation than we initially expected, since this means PlatinumGames has lost key people behind all of its most prominent games. As far as we can tell, this only leaves Ryoya Sakabe, the director of the delisted mobile game World Of Demons, and possibly Takahisa Sugiyama, co-director on Babylon’s Fall. Not exactly Platinum’s most celebrated talent. Coincidentally, PlatinumGames has also updated its portfolio on its website and, for whatever reason, scrubbed no less than 13 games from it. All that’s left are the Bayonetta games, NieR: Automata, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Astral Chain, Vanquish (whose own director, Shinji Mikami, left in 2010), The Wonderful 101, and the newly announced Ninja Gaiden 4.

Some of the removed games make sense. The likes of Transformers Devastation and The Legend Of Korra game have been delisted for years, so perhaps Platinum felt there was no point advertising games people can’t buy any more. However, this seems to confirm that the Ultraman inspired superhero title Project G.G. has been cancelled. This was Kamiya’s pet project and it was never clear if his departure meant Platinum would continue without its development without him. It looks like the answer is no, though.

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. Arrow MORE: Bayonetta creator condemns Nintendo Switch 2 leakers and their ‘filthy desire’. Arrow MORE: New Nintendo Switch 2 game sequel in development hell claims rumour.