Platinum Games has announced its opening a new studio in Tokyo.
Staff at the new location – which already employs 15 people and plans to expand to a 100-strong team – are thought to be working on a successor to Hideki Kamiya’s Viewtiful Joe and The Wonderful 101. Along with a brief teaser cinematic, Platinum Games’ SVP and designer Kamiya confirmed the title was currently codenamed Project G.G. and would be “a giant hero-esque title”.
“We’re at the project start stage, and from here on we’ll be putting together the development team,” studio head Atsushi Inaba told Famitsu (thanks, Gematsu). “We’re opening a 100-person studio in Tokyo, so we’re going to be recruiting talent. There are already about 15 people working there.”
“[Astral Chain director] Takahisa Taura beat me in a Twitter poll for ‘Creators I Want to Work With,’ so I’m a bit sad,” said Kamiya.
“In the past, we have received capital investment-like proposals similar to the one from Tencent, but there was much talk of Platinum Games [losing] its independence, so we turned them down as not trade our freedom for stability,” added Inaba.
Inaba is referring to an announcement in January which said Platinum had received an undisclosed investment from Tencent. In a brief press statement on the official website at the time, President and CEO Kenichi Sato assured fans that the partnership would have “no effect on the independence of [the] company” and intimated the investment will be used to expand the developer’s self-publishing activities.
Former Platinum Games CEO Tatsuya Minami is now leading M-Two Inc., the new studio contributing to the remake of Capcom’s Resident Evil 3. M-Two Inc. has reportedly been in operation for over a year and is comprised of several former Platinum and Capcom employees, including Minami. It’s understood the studio was formed with some funding from Capcom, even though the studio operates independently.
It’s also rumoured Minami had originally intended to recruit former colleague and Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami to co-found the startup, hence the company’s name ‘M-Two’. However, it seems Mikami has opted to remain at Tango Gameworks.
