Bayonetta and Vanquish developer Platinum Games is working on two self-published games—its first stab at going it alone. Head of development Atsushi Inaba told GameInformer that in 2017 the company encouraged game pitches from all its staff, which has yielded "two designs that we’re genuinely focused on". Given the quality of its previous games, and the fact that it told PC Gamer in April that it would like all its games to release on PC, that's something to be excited about.
From the sounds of it, these new games could be fresh IPs, rather than sequels to existing games. "We’re looking into creating our own IP, creating our own game," he said. That'd make more sense, really, because untangling Bayonetta or Vanquish from publisher Sega could prove tricky (I'm not saying it's impossible, mind).
You can also bet that the two games will fit in with Platinum's love for over-the-top action games. Inaba said he wants the new games to "surprise" the fan base, but not because of their genre. "If you’re going to put 20 people on the development, it has to be something that’s on brand and on topic, and obviously when people think of the Platinum Games brand, they expect crazy hardcore action, right? That’s what they’re looking for. And so we have to be reticent of that," he said.
A team of around 20 would place the game somewhere between a AAA game and an indie title, Inaba said. And if you're worried about these new games distracting from Platinum's main body of work, then Inaba says you needn't, because the new titles are not "going to interfere with relationships with other publishers".
"The style and the size and scope of games that we do with them is going to be much bigger compared to this to the point where they realize we’re not really competing in the same markets."
What kind of games would you like to see from Platinum?
