Support NeoGAF

[IronicSonic]

Maybe reducing the scope of their output could work? Maybe they need to create something more in line with the scope of other indie games like Inside, Ori or The Witness to start they self-publishing cycle.

If they want to start self-publishing AA+ games like Bayonetta 2, Rising or Vanquish in the way they are working right now, it could be suicidal.

I really want Platinum to succeed. I don't want another Treasure kind of case :'(

 

[Scum]

What ??? Has minami joined Nintendo?m

Not yet, m8. Not yet...

 

[Peltz]

Platinum games are great. I fucking love their stuff.

But they really struggle with making accessible games for the masses. 5 million sales per game isn't in their wheelhouse unless they change up their design philosophy to allow for less visually noisy experiences that gradually open up to the player.

Perhaps they should focus on coming up with a good multiplayer game that doesn't involve combat just to shake things up.

 

[duckroll]

Interesting how in an interview about Platinum's future there is zero mention of the departure of Minami.

 

[Nyoro SF]

Interesting how in an interview about Platinum's future there is zero mention of the departure of Minami.

Dude must've done something pretty awful to be dropped the way he was.

I'm still in awe how he pretty much vanished from PG.

 

[Diddy Kong]

Just make sure Nintendo funds Bayonetta 3 NX

 

[Sotha_Sil]

From a business point of view, they're like a Japanese version of Obsidian.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

Interesting how in an interview about Platinum's future there is zero mention of the departure of Minami.

aint heard one mention of dude, from anybody. Not one PR release, not one tweet, not well wishes, nothing.

what could he have done to earn that kind of ire about the CEO of the company

 

[jiggle]

They just need make a hit mobile game to fund all their future creative endeavors

 

[LizardKing]

They make great games but their prevailing genre as a company is just too niche to become a hit. The market for flashy, twitchy action games is really pretty small and only comprised of the most hardcore of gamer. Maybe if they went in the Okami direction they would have some more success.

 

[ThoughtsOfSpeaking]

Surprising that they don't own scalebound. Microsoft lets devs keep their IPs. Wonder what happen in that deal.

That changed around about the time Ryse 2 was being shopped around by crytek

 

[RedSwirl]

None of the big third party publishers would let them own their own IP if they work with them?

Activision let's Bungie retain ownership of Destiny if I'm not mistaken. EA Originals is supposedly all about giving small developers support while letting them retain their IP.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

None of the big third party publishers would let them own their own IP if they work with them?

Activision let's Bungie retain ownership of Destiny if I'm not mistaken. EA Originals is supposedly all about giving small developers support while letting them retain their IP.

If you have the leverage, why let them own the IP? There's no benefit to them shopping it around and every publisher has leverage with Platinum.

Not saying it's right, but publishers letting Platinum own the IP when they could just own it themselves is probably in their best interest.

 

[J-Skee]

It sucks that they can't control their own destiny right now, but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't want to see what collaboration between them & Japan Studio would look like.

 

[Emperor_EL]

He's been saying that they want to self publish smaller games for years, surprised we haven't seen any yet.

Hoping that new licensed game is Transformers Devastation 2. Hasbro said they wanted a game for every part of Prime Wars but who knows if they changed their mind.

 

[Ravidrath]

As sad as this is, it's not a surprise.

Japanese game development contracts are really awful - there's really no back-end. So if you have a mega-hit game, the best you can do is just get a sequel or another project from the publisher that signed your last one.

But even then, Japanese developers are expected to do a ton of free work to land any sort of contract.

While I think most of the failures of the Japanese game industry as a whole are technical and procedural, these sorts of business practices haven't helped at all. Royalties on projects is what lets studios grow, develop their own IPs, and invest in their futures.

Platinum is one of the few Japanese studios that seem to understand and embrace the current industry, though - by Japanese standards they were early Steam adopters, they have solid tech that they reuse on each project, and they're starting to engage more with their community.

 

[Yukinari]

Maybe reducing the scope of their output could work? Maybe they need to create something more in line with the scope of other indie games like Inside, Ori or The Witness to start they self-publishing cycle.

If they want to start self-publishing AA+ games like Bayonetta 2, Rising or Vanquish in the way they are working right now, it could be suicidal.

I really want Platinum to succeed. I don't want another Treasure kind of case :'(

The funny part is that i can say with confidence that ive enjoyed more of Treasure's games. Aside from Bayonetta, Wonderful 101 and Rising none of Platinum's stuff clicks with me.

I do love the music in Anarchy Reigns though, shame that game is dead.

 

[Coda]

The funny part is that i can say with confidence that ive enjoyed more of Treasure's games. Aside from Bayonetta, Wonderful 101 and Rising none of Platinum's stuff clicks with me.

I do love the music in Anarchy Reigns though, shame that game is dead.

I really wish Treasure would come back with something epic.

 

[Shin-chan]

I wonder if they'll continue down the multiplayer focused loot based stuff they've been making recently. Both Scalebound and Ninja Turtles have a strong emphasis on multiplayer and Transformers had Diablo style loot (to its detriment I think).

It's like they're trying to branch out and experiment within their current mould which doesn't look to have changed much since Bayonetta. Scalebound is the biggest departure from the studio since any of the SEGA titles, but it honestly looks a bit crap.

I think stuff like Metal Gear Rising is probably an ideal situation for them in the medium term, because it can help expand their audience as a studio by attaching themselves to a spin off of a big Japanese IP. That's got to be better than churning out licenced stuff for Activision. Imagine a Platinum developed Final Fantasy whatever spin off? Maybe this wouldn't work with that series going further towards being an action game, but you get the point.

Either that or they need a Spider-Man (if we use Insomniac as a point of comparison).

 

[Jintor]

Sounds like they should try doing some mobile games.

I don't know that they have the skillset. They could start developing it, I suppose

 

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

They make great games but their prevailing genre as a company is just too niche to become a hit. The market for flashy, twitchy action games is really pretty small and only comprised of the most hardcore of gamer. Maybe if they went in the Okami direction they would have some more success.

I wonder just how small it is, really. The Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden series largely sold well and were treated as pretty big releases by their owners - granted, the last beloved entries in their series was in 2008, but I have trouble believing that most people who made DMC4 sell millions of copies have evaporated.

I think there is still a pretty sizeable market for hardcore action games (the Souls games have been doing very well, even if they aren't exactly comparable). The problems are just 1) most publishers who could fund a game of that type would rather fund something even more profitable and 2) Platinum is happy to let their artists and game designers go wild. I'm personally very grateful for that, I love the aesthetics of their games, but Bayonetta and Wonderful 101 are just naturally, unfortunately. going to be harder sells to the mass market than Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden due to their more absurd aesthetics.

 

[Memory]

Interesting how in an interview about Platinum's future there is zero mention of the departure of Minami.

Before you interview someone you give them an idea of the questions you'll be asking to make sure they are okay. The interviewer probably brought up Minami but it seems to be a case of memoriae daminto, likely due to something extremely shameful and dishonourable.

Really sad to see P* working from job to job trying to ave scratch for their own IP, i imagine they have lots of creative ideas. Hopefully they can get some support and funding even with their track record.

I would back anything they do, especially if its a brawler like Anarchy Reigns or a TBS like Infinite Space.

 

[witchedwiz]

Is sue it self is that platinum track record is pretty inconsistent..
At this point, i thing they need their own ip..
Issue is, they put a lot of cool idea into bayo/bayo2 so they need to up their gig if they want to deliver something in similar quality..
Scalebound seems a bit uninspired..

 

[george_us]

Heartbreaking to read. At this point I don't have any problem with Platinum "selling out" so to speak. They've been giving their collective hearts and souls for ten years to an audience that doesn't care for the most part. Platinum's more than earned the right to go and chase that Call of Duty money.

 

[I-hate-u]

They'll outlive Capcom at the very least, me thinks.

 

[Jingo]

So, no rising 2?

 

[BatDan]

So, no rising 2?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Rising 2 died with Konami's sanity.

... It's sad that a W101 sequel is more likely. Sure it didn't sell, but Nintendo is known to do outlandish things.

TBH, I'm surprised at pubs wanting to own things like Bayonetta and Scalebound without the guarantee that Platinum would be working on it.

Oh god, I just realized that MS could farm out Scalebound sequels to some third-tier port-house if they so wanted.

 

[daegan]

TBH, I'm surprised at pubs wanting to own things like Bayonetta and Scalebound without the guarantee that Platinum would be working on it.

 

[Apathy]

He's been saying that they want to self publish smaller games for years, surprised we haven't seen any yet.

Hoping that new licensed game is Transformers Devastation 2. Hasbro said they wanted a game for every part of Prime Wars but who knows if they changed their mind.

Well they seem to work back to back on games to keep the lights on, perhaps there literally is no time for even a small game to be made.

 

[thefro]

I'd expect they'll continue to work with Nintendo at the least. Seems to be a pretty good relationship there.

TBH, I'm surprised at pubs wanting to own things like Bayonetta and Scalebound without the guarantee that Platinum would be working on it.

That seems pretty standard for a publisher-funded game. Otherwise say, if Bayonetta was a hit, Capcom could steal publishing rights for the sequel and Sega would get $0, or Sony could make Scalebound 2 PS4 exclusive.

 

[Oblivion]

Is there any company like Platinum that makes generally very well received games (critically) but never winds up being commercially successful? I don't think a single one of their games has turned out to be a hit, yet they've still managed to get steady work over the years.

 

[BatDan]

I'd expect they'll continue to work with Nintendo at the least. Seems to be a pretty good relationship there.

Thankfully.
Even if you didn't like W101 or Star Fox, things are are looking good for them.

 

[Bladelaw]

It's a shame none of the great work they've done is owned by them. Vanguish had problems (short runtime being the biggest issue) but it's one of my favorite shooters of that generation. Bayonetta is still the bar I hold against Character Action Games. Both of those belong to SEGA (Bayo2's Nintendo exclusivity having nothing to do with the IP and everything to do with funding development) who will predictably do nothing with either franchise even though both have a pretty strong cult following.

Their licensed games feel like they wanted to do more but budget/schedule kept them from cleaning them up to the above's level of shine. There's good ideas in Korra, Turtles, Star Fox, and Transformers, but really Transformers is the only one that really turned into a decent product start to finish.

I'm not sure how much funding they had for Metal Gear Rising. I'm curious if Kojima had much to do with the gameplay systems or if he just provided the story and basic direction.

Seems like none of their games really hit breakout success even the great ones. Rising is really the only one I can point to as an unmitigated success and even that wasn't blowing up the charts.

 

[duvjones]

In a way, I like Inaba's thinking here. The types of games that they want to make seem to be out of the wheelhouse of many players (which is a shame honestly). If you have to have a game like Korra to "pay the bills" and "keep the lighs on", might as well take the money and run.
With that said, It is good that their focus on games like that is more hired-job based that anything else. There is little means in building a future based on games like that with their talent pool.

I am honestly up for there coming out with something original when it comes to intellectual property, they have their own grove when it comes to action game and that applied to something original will likely prove to be highly entertaining.

I'm not sure how much funding they had for Metal Gear Rising. I'm curious if Kojima had much to do with the gameplay systems or if he just provided the story and basic direction.

Kojima had very little involvement once he hired Platinum, there is an interview out there where Kojima talks about the development and basically (outside of general enquiries) Platinum basically told him "Look, we got this. It will be fine."

 

[Pantaghana]

It seems their history consists mostly of getting screwed over by publishers that don't give a shit, and yet they rely on them to stay in business. Maybe they should switch gears and do something smaller for a publisher that is known to give a shit? Like Devolver or Adult Swim.

 

[duckroll]

It seems their history consists mostly of getting screwed over by publishers that don't give a shit, and yet they rely on them to stay in business. Maybe they should switch gears and do something smaller for a publisher that is known to give a shit? Like Devolver or Adult Swim.

My understanding is that publishers like Devolver and Adult Swim give a lot of support and freedom to indie titles they publish because they simply handle the publishing and promotion side of things, while most of the time development is actually funded by the devs themselves. I don't think Platinum's problem is that they can't find publishers who would be willing to help them market and distribute games they make, I think their problem might be that they don't have the cashflow to fund their own games and keep the lights on without it being risky. Which is unfortunate.