On Hideki Kamiya’s first video for his new YouTube channel, the man who helped direct landmark games like Bayonetta, Okami, Viewtiful Joe, and Devil May Cry is seen walking out of Platinum Games’ headquarters carrying the trademark cardboard box of the recently laid off. He’s wearing shorts and an orange bandana.
“Oh well,” he said, according to YouTube’s CC translations. “I’m done (with Platinum Games)… I left. I’m over it. I’m so over it.” In that video, he said he’s obligated not to work in the game industry for a year, likely due to contractual agreements.
“I am Hideki Kamiya, unemployed,” he added. “I’m out of a job. Please subscribe.”
Last month, the co-founder and chief game designer of PlatinumGames announced he would be leaving the company on Thursday, Oct. 12. In a tweet, he said he came to his decision “after a lot of consideration based on my own beliefs and was by no means an easy decision to make… I will continue to create in my Hideki Kamiya way. I hope you’ll keep your eyes peeled.”
His first creative decision is apparently starting a YouTube channel. In his first video on the channel, he hemmed and hawed about why he decided to leave Platinum but eventually said “I wanted to follow my beliefs as a game creator.” Kamiya is known for his candor, and he said he would consider a new job offer for anything above 100 million yen, or close to $US670,000 a year.
In the year he’s unable to work on games, Kamiya said he will keep posting content to his new channel, though it will all be “completely useless to making games… it won’t be of help to anyone wanting to be in the game industry nor give any other type of learning experience.” Otherwise, he’s going off the cuff with the kind of content he plans to make, and he said he’ll solicit ideas from YouTube commenters.
Kamiya has a long storied history in the games industry stretching all the way back to Capcom’s early days and titles like Resident Evil 2. At Platinum, he directed and supervised the Bayonetta games and cult favorites like The Wonderful 101. He told viewers he doesn’t plan to retire quite yet, and that he will still work on games, though he called rumors he wasn’t leaving Platinum “bullshit.”
It’s standard form for the game designer who had built a bit of a reputation on Twitter for his lack of restraint. He was known for blocking large swathes of readers on the platform for posting at him in languages other than Japanese. The last stretch goal for The Wonderful 101 Kickstarter in 2020 was “Kamiya unblocks everyone!” relating to the mass numbers of blocked Twitter users.
He told viewers he feels “very refreshed” after leaving and he’s been spending his time watching TV and streaming movies. He’s also planning to do some more cooking, though his first attempt at making a simple curry overflowed the pot and “became a huge mess.”