In a Japanese interview between Hideki Kamiya and CLOVERS Inc CEO Kento Koyama and DenFamiNicoGamer, which the latter published shortly after the reveal of the Okami sequel, Kamiya discussed his departure from PlatinumGames. It also went over the new studio and Okami 2. [Thanks, DenFamiNicoGamer!]
Hideki Kamiya noted that he started having disagreements with PlatinumGames CEO Atsushi Inaba about the company’s direction beginning around April 2023. The two continued arguing for about three months until July 2023, which is when they concluded that they could no longer reach an agreement. This immediately resulted in Kamiya’s impending departure on October 12, 2023, even though the announcement would not go public until September 2023.
Even though Kento Koyama could leave PlatinumGames and establish CLOVERS Inc. in October 2023, Hideki Kamiya did not join it right away, as he set up a YouTube channel in the same month. Koyama confirmed in the Japanese interview that Kamiya had a non-compete clause that required him to be unemployed for a year. That’s why the CEO was only able to formally recruit Kamiya to the company’s ranks on October 13, 2024, in order to respect the clause.
Kento Koyama also has a deep connection with Hideki Kamiya, as the former was the producer of the still-barely-revealed Project G.G. Neither Kamiya nor Koyama know about the project’s ultimate fate following their departures. PlatinumGames still has yet to provide an update to the project as of the end of 2024 either.
Hideki Kamiya’s journey has come full circle with all the recent announcements. Okami was the last title he directly worked on at Clover Studio before he left it in July 2006, ahead of Capcom’s dissolution of the subsidiary at the end of the fiscal year. When Capcom confirmed the Okami sequel at The Game Awards 2024, it also revealed that Hideki Kamiya and CLOVERS would be part of the new game’s development team.
However, Kamiya also noted in the interview that CLOVERS would not be a simple rehash of Clover Studio. During a discussion with Koyama, Kamiya noted that the name CLOVERS could be split to “C LOVERS.” After brainstorming the meaning of C, which started with Kamiya’s “Creative” input, the two came up with three more meanings: “Challenge,” “Craftsmanship,” and a fourth C that would be up to each individual.
Kamiya also added that he is more interested in working on AA and lower-scaled games than the massive AAA projects. Near the end of the interview, he announced that—despite having split away from PlatinumGames—he would be completely open to collaborating with his former company by having CLOVERS develop a new game based on an IP owned by PlatinumGames.
As of the end of 2024, Hideki Kamiya is leading CLOVERS’ game studio in developing the sequel to Okami for Capcom. The companies have yet to announce the sequel’s release window and platforms.
Published: Dec 16, 2024 02:00 pm