Bayonetta director and Platinum Games co-founder Hideki Kamiya is leaving the studio

Hideki Kamiya, the Japanese video game director known for his work on Bayonetta, Viewtiful Joe, and The Wonderful 101, is leaving PlatinumGames. The news was first announced by the development studio on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, with Kamiya himself confirming the news via his own account shortly afterwards. He is due to officially leave Platinum on October 12th.

Although neither party gave an exact reason for Kamiya’s departure from the studio, where he currently serves as its vice president, it sounds like an amicable separation. “We are truly grateful for his creative ideas, leadership, and contribution to the growth of PlatinumGames from our start-up to this very day,” the company’s statement reads. “We believe that he will continue to succeed in his future endeavors as a game creator. We are looking forward to seeing the game industry grow into a better place with him in it. We wish him all the best for the future!”

The decision “came after a lot of consideration based on my own beliefs and was by no means an easy decision to make,” Kamiya posted from his own X account. “However, I feel this outcome is for the best. I will continue to create in my Hideki Kamiya way.”

Kamiya first rose to prominence at Capcom, where he directed Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry, and Viewtiful Joe. He later directed Ōkami at the Capcom-owned studio Clover, before co-founding the company that would become PlatinumGames in 2006 with Shinji Mikami and Atsushi Inaba. It was at Platinum that he directed Bayonetta and The Wonderful 101, as well as Scalebound — a Microsoft Studios project that was later cancelled. Kamiya was most recently working on Project G.G. at PlatinumGames, which has been characterized as the climax of Kamiya’s “superhero trilogy” alongside Viewtiful Joe and The Wonderful 101.