Platinum: "industry deeply saddens us"

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 1 April, 2011

Outlines new vision, Platinum Next.

Bayonetta, MadWorld and Vanquish developer PlatinumGames has outlined its new vision and lamented the decline of originality in video games.

In an open letter published on its website, president and CEO Tatsuya Minami revealed Platinum Next, the Japanese studio's "new course".

"I believe that games exist to offer fresh surprises to those who play them," he writes. "As members of the games business, we have always pursued the creation of the new, and we take pride in doing our part to support our industry.

"However, the current games business is struggling. The 'fresh surprises' I mention are becoming few and far between, especially in our home of Japan. Not so long ago, Japan lead the world's games business, and it was not a stretch to call games a uniquely Japanese specialty; however, now it appears that Japanese games companies have lost their vigor.

"Series grow ever-longer; original titles are on the decline. Games with new at their core are disappearing. Japanese games that garner worldwide acclaim are slipping away.

"This state of affairs deeply saddens us."

Minami goes on to say that Platinum must now become "the Japanese Standard Bearer in Global Competition".

"We aim to bring happiness to gamers worldwide. We seek to ignite a Japanese games revival. And our troops will have the highest morale.

"We're in this fight for the long haul."

Many experts believe the game industry currently suffers from a lack of innovation brought on by a focus on sequels.

PlatinumGames titles are on the whole critically acclaimed – but struggle to find commercial success.

Its next title, Anarchy Reigns, is an online action combat game with a focus on multiplayer.

Rovio boss Peter Vesterbacka, the brains behind Angry Birds, drew attention for claiming console games are "dying".

The shift towards social and mobile gaming has been stark, with a number of high-profile, big budget developers expanding their businesses.

Last month Resistance and Ratchet & Clank developer Insomniac Games opened a web and mobile development division called Insomniac Click.

"We believe there will always be a market for what we call 'core' games," Insomniac Games' chief creative officer Brian Hastings said at the time.

"But as core games have become increasingly complex the barrier to entry for everyone else has often become higher and higher. As a result, the games with the highest production values are simply impossible to play for the vast majority of people in the world."

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (44) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • CrispyXUK64 #1 1 year ago

    Nice to here they care and want to do something about it.

  • zuul #2 1 year ago

    Unfortunately, yes, in general Japanese developers are "long gone". Only interesting ones I can remember for years are some Wii first party exclusives and the occasional surprise like Vanquish.

  • Kayin #3 1 year ago

    Vanquish was all kinds of great, but other than being hi-octane it's not like it was 100% original. Bayonetta was very much another Devil May Cry attempt (which I didn't think topped the standard set by DMC3 SE, personally) and Mad World and Anarchy Reigns... well, I'm seeing similarities in both those games as well.

    It's nice that they want to be original, but they're also correct in that the only way to establish an IP these days seems to be to copy a popular genre. The risks are too high to come up with something completely out of left field.

    If Child of Eden doesn't sell well, I'm not going to be impressed. :/

  • PixelPirate #4 1 year ago

    WHOAH hang on.

    where did all the random stuff at the end of the article come from about mobile gaming? This is such a tenuous link and drawing conclusions for all the wrong reasons.

    Tatsuya Minami was talking about how he wants his company to lead the way in new and original ideas, especially since in Japan this has been in rapid decline as they seek to copy the western developers, banging out endless sequels.

    The stuff about mobile gaming has nothing to do with this and is totally out of place.

    very sloppy journalism Wes.

    If you had gone on to talk about other developers trying to do original stuff like this: such as FROM Software with Demons Souls or Atlus with Catherine then there might have been more meat to the article, but you have just rail-roaded this in to a "mobile is destroying games article" worthy of the Sun or Fox news school of reporting

    *Fume*
    Edited by PixelPirate at 01/04/11 @ 09:12

  • gooner77 #5 1 year ago

    I do feel for Platinum as it appears they haven't had the runaway commercial success their games deserve.

    I thought Bayonetta and Vanquish were both fantastic games and deserved better, I mean they did good but not great business which is a shame

  • MiniAmin #6 1 year ago

    Oh, believe me, the industry deeply saddens us too.

  • evild_edd #7 1 year ago

    Well, I'm nit sure Anarchy Reins looks like the title to set new standards. The videos seen and previews read make it all sound a little.....chaotic. Whilst that may be the point, if players don't feel they have control over a game then it becomes very disposable.

    I hope they can bring out a truly AAA release that finds critical success. Vanquish was class, and Bayonetta apparently great (on my shelf to play).

    As for the description of Demon Souls as an original title I don't think this (or Vanquish or Bayonetta for that matter) are necessarily original. They may be quality games, but hardcore gameplay in established genres is not original. And it's not mass Market, unfortunately.

    The link to mobile gaming was a bit tenuous, but actually it's been d/l and mobile gaming flying the originality flag over the past couple of years. Sad but true, IMO.

    I fear for the future of console gaming. I reckon it'll become an ever more hardcore niche, which won't allow the sales to justify the bigger-budget releases, bar perhaps half a dozen franchises.

    The industry's fascination with the film industry might be about to catch up with it when we wake up one day and discover we've turned in to Hollywood...

  • ardamillo #8 1 year ago

    Love Platinum's work, but he did go a bit Gadaffi there at the end!

    And I agree the article conflates two separate issues.

  • Bander #9 1 year ago

    Knew this was a Wesley story when Rovio popped up in the story for no reason.

  • FortysixterUK #10 1 year ago

    Good to hear a company taking a stand against sequel-itis.
    There games so far have been unusual and original. +1 to them.

  • PixelPirate #11 1 year ago

    As for the description of Demon Souls as an original title I don't think this (or Vanquish or Bayonetta for that matter) are necessarily original. They may be quality games, but hardcore gameplay in established genres is not original. And it's not mass Market, unfortunately.

    Demons Souls use of online was nothing short of inspired genius, it deserves note as it isn't the sloppy tacked on death match multi player we usually get.

  • King_Edward #12 1 year ago

    So long as they don't confuse originality with western appeal like so many other Japanese devs, then only good can come of this.

  • NewbieZilla #13 1 year ago

    I didn't get MadWorld, but I got Bayonetta and Vanquish. Love both.

    "Its next title, Anarchy Reigns, is an online action combat game with a focus on multiplayer."

    Meh. Count me out on that one.

    Edit: Ok, unless it seriously kicks ass.
    Edited by NewbieZilla at 01/04/11 @ 10:11

  • Siberian_Khatru #14 1 year ago

    For glorious Nippon! Our morale is high!

    Anarchy looks really bad, and their games have been getting duller with each new one.

  • Golgo #15 1 year ago

    Whythe fuck was Rovio dropped as some kind of authority into the middle of an article on Platinum? Rovio would struggle to hold a job cleaning toilets in the Platinum offices.

  • mrblonde #16 1 year ago

    Vanquish was ace and although not a fan of the DMC genre i enjoyed bayonetta too, also platinum haven't succumbed to adding pointless multi players or forced co-op. but i fear they will go this route, like capcom have ruined many of their titles.
    Edited by mrblonde at 01/04/11 @ 10:23

  • Grayvern #17 1 year ago

    He may have half a point however anyone who tries to claim that games were 'a uniquely Japanese specialty' rather than they were made because Japanese hardware manufacture was uniquely geared in the 80's and 90's to turn out the hardware annoys me almost as much as manga fans who claim superiority in the face of watchman.
    Edited by Grayvern at 01/04/11 @ 10:26

  • Inmediasress #18 1 year ago

    Well japanese games tend to be the same concept of devil may cry kind of hack and slash with over the top action or really linear rpgs with also over the top action.Which I'm not saying that it is bad but ceartainly gets stale after a while.
    Western games are the same only with everything being COD type of fps and some open world rpgs that are also good but they become quite stale. Then there are the few gems and unique games that are becomming quite a rarity so much that 1-2 title in a year means that we are lucky.
    In short yes the gaming industry needs a boat load of creativity and uniqueness.

  • nafter #19 1 year ago

    So when's Vanquish 2 being released?

  • Toothball #20 1 year ago

    I've been making a point of picking up Plantinum's games for a while now. I ran into problems with Vanquish as my initial forays with it quickly revealed it to be better than I am at playing it, but that's on me rather than the game. I found Infinite Space in Tesco the other week, so I'll probably give that a go in the near furture.

  • Ryze #21 1 year ago

    The guys are almost single-handedly maintaining Sega's relevance as a publisher.

    Kudos.

  • ForozM #22 1 year ago

    Well, last year I picked up both Vanquish and Bayonetta, and while both are great games, the storytelling could've been treated a little better.

  • anomagnus #23 1 year ago

    I’m really getting annoyed by games developers who don’t have success, claiming that it is a lack of originality that is killing them. I look at Platinum for example, and as others have said, there’s nothing original about any of their games, or demon souls for that matter. There are exceptional levels of polish, and a very eastern flavor to them, but that’s hardly a candidate for originality.

    How can you even define originality anymore? What is original these days? Every game is going to use the same basic mechanics as the last or next. Move forward, defeat enemy/reach goal, move forward. What’s an original idea in terms of story? How many actual stories can be told? Original to me is something that has never been done before. Putting a big busted woman in a shooter is NOT original. Putting her in a cat suit is NOT original. In fact, it’s the oldest trick in the book. Using sex to sell.

    Vanquish was even less original, since it tried to ape the modern western shooter, and then failed to find acceptance in the masses.

    I find that the originality argument is used by snobs more often than not, as a way to look down on something.

    I bought both bayonetta and vanquish. Both were good games, but that’s it. They failed to do well, because they couldn’t connect exceptional levels of polish, with an audience that appreciated the content. If games like ME2 can succeed, it’s because they took a solid foundation of mechanics and content and matched it to their target audience. I bought Demon Souls, and was massively underwhelmed in what was nothing more than a MMO like grind, without anything to encourage you to come back.

    Platinum’s problem is that they can’t make games that the a wide enough audience want, and then they turn around and blame the industry and say its because the unwashed masses can’t accept their ‘original games’. These games aren’t selling because the masses and the industry can’t accept these works of arts, they’re not selling because not enough people want them.
    Edited by anomagnus at 01/04/11 @ 17:11

  • IkariW #24 1 year ago

    Platinum remind me of Treasure, alot.

    I'm a massive fan of both, they both make great games, original, and ground breaking in many departments, but ultimately over looked by the FPS buying public of the west. (And before the flames start, I enjoy a good FPS as much as the next person, I'm not saying they are all rubbish or anything!)

    Damn shame, but great news to hear they aren't giving up!
    I want you to give me your highest morale Platinum! ;)
    Edited by IkariW at 01/04/11 @ 11:38

  • joelstinton #25 1 year ago

    @anomagnus

    You are right in that is not much room for orignality any more, but i think its the lazy ports, and rehashes over and over again, that sell and sell and sell and sell thats infuriating some gamers, developers, and reviewers.

    When games like ICO, De Blob 2, Okami don't sell, its a travesty. It really is. How many people brought killzone 3, bulletstorm, Homefront, and Crysis that were all released within a couple of weeks of each other? loads, how many brought more than 1 of the above Four, quite a lot, yet de blob 2, something of creative charm, a well made and really enjoyable game sells less that 100k in a month in America across 4 platforms.

    Developers are being forced into a corner in to what to make, what will make cash, and its stifling the industry. Kudos to Platinum games, i hope they succeed. Why should Platinum games make a game for a wide audience? and just do the same things that most games have been doing for the last 5 years? These people care about there jobs, and their creative output, would you want to be doing the same thing as other people if you were a film maker? photographer, musician, painter? I'm all for a bit of a blast with COD online now and again, but i'm also all for giving the developers that actually deserved 40 of your well earned cash from a fucking pitfall of a miserable job to make my life that little better.
    Edited by joelstinton at 01/04/11 @ 12:05

  • miiiguel #26 1 year ago

    I loved Bayonetta, like realy loved. As in on of my fav games ever. Vanquish is class too, but not as good. Anarchy seems to want to go MP just because that's what the kids want nowdays. And it saddens me.

  • menschenfracht #27 1 year ago

    @Ryze
    "The guys are almost single-handedly maintaining Sega's relevance as a publisher.

    Kudos. "
    Actually, Valkyria Chronicles (Sakura Taisen) and Ryugagotoku are well thought-out, too, the latter one being the only million-selling non-sequel in the Japan in the last few years (although they did ruin the novelty by setting six games of the franchise in Kamurocho).

  • TonyHarrison #28 1 year ago

    You guys are really pushing this 'rise of mobile games, console is doomed' mantra aren't you.

  • AmarMah #29 1 year ago

    we have sony and microsoft to thank for exhausted series, thanks guys!

  • miiiguel #30 1 year ago

    we have sony and microsoft to thank for exhausted series, thanks guys!

    It's a Marioooooo is sad, you should thank him too.

  • Sonic_D #31 1 year ago

    Looks like I'll have to write an open love letter to Platinum in return.

    I agree they are not always original, but they know how to make fun games.

  • CypherQ #32 1 year ago

    This is the problem with gaming becoming "mass" market. Games cost that much to develop these days that you need a sure-fire hit that will sell millions (to recoup costs) before the publishers will take a risk. Way it goes though... look at the movie industry. We have all the Hollywood blockbusters and the smaller indie films which we never hear of. If you want original games that are a bit different you just have to dig around a bit more. Mobile,XBLA and PSN will flourish with originality because the riskier projects can be developed for these platforms. So really nothing to be "saddened" about there is more choice out there than there ever has been. More opportunities to publish games than there ever has been. The smaller teams who have less budgets will just have to adapt and plan a new strategy for this ever changing marketplace. It's a win/win scenario really.

  • HermitArcader #33 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • Feanor #34 1 year ago

    I don't know why Euorgamer seems to want mobile games to take over. People who just play mobile games don't give a shit about websites like this one.

  • repeater #35 1 year ago

    This makes me want to go out and buy a Platinum Game just to support them. Probably not Bayonetta though, that was just plain silly (not in a good way).

  • Ranger101 #36 1 year ago

    2nd half of the article was a non-sequitor.

  • miiiguel #37 1 year ago

    I don't know why Euorgamer seems to want mobile games to take over. People who just play mobile games don't give a shit about websites like this one.

    That's probably what they want to change. A piece of the pie for mr. EG, please.

  • dingo75 #38 1 year ago

    If you muppets would stop buying the Xbox and instead play on the PC we would have the old better days again:

    Kickass FPS / RPG / strategy games on the PC
    Kickass platformer, sport games and JRPGs on the consoles

    Everyone would be better off and developers could target the platforms their games will work on / sell on just like before the Xbox stomped in.

  • man.the.king #39 1 year ago

    @zuul

    Apparently you haven't played any games by Team Ico, or Demons Souls and probably haven't heard about the upcoming Catherine.
    Edited by man.the.king at 01/04/11 @ 16:41

  • riz23 #40 1 year ago

    Ganbare Platinum!

  • skyrend #41 1 year ago

    That's great, Platinum. Give me a PS3 versions of Bayonetta that wasn't a complete hack money grabbing port job and I will give a damn about what you say.

  • SpaceMonkey77 #42 1 year ago

    Platinum have a point and good for their side of the industry to put their head on a block, and admit there's a problem with japanese games, and they plan to try and help fix it. Its a refreshing contrast, than the PR spiel of Nintendo, who tread such a line, that at times, the might as well have the games funded by the Vatican.

    Like someone else said, its easier with XBLA etc to create games now, and in respone to Platinum, besides full priced console product, I'd like to see them and more japanese studios, embracing and using these cheaper service to try out more new ideas etc. If they want to keep rolling with the game, adaption and experimentation via cheap means is vital.

    The tragedy of the recent earthquake, has no doubt made Japan think about its industries more, and it will no doubt cost them much time to recover. With games being a huge export for them, they must adapt and sustain its impact to what it was once. I'd have no problem with Platinum leading a charge for something better.

    As for originality, there's a fine line between a cool new idea, and something that will 90% of the time be less original, but will sell to gamers. Getting that balance right is the greatest tightrope walk. Some will succeed and others will fall.

  • curryking3 #43 1 year ago

    Tell the Japanese developers *cough* Square-Enix & CAPCOM *cough* to stop using 'inspiration' from the West. It's awful!

    Bring back Squaresoft! Squaresoft forever!!!

  • zuul #44 1 year ago

    @man.the.king

    > "and the occasional surprise"

    I played both Ico and SotC. But...
    Ico: 2001
    SotC: 2005

    We currently have 2011.