PlatinumGames’ Kenichi Sato announced Thursday that he is stepping down from his position as president and CEO of the Bayonetta and Nier: Automata studio, with veteran developer Atsushi Inaba stepping up to take his place.
“Right now, I feel like PlatinumGames is poised to move on to more innovative game modes, so now is a better time than ever to hand over the reins to Inaba, who led the initiative to enhance the company’s creative output. many years to build,” Sato said in a blog post.
Sato will continue to serve PlatinumGames as an advisor and “offer my assistance where needed”. He was president of the company for just over five and a half years.
As for Inaba, he started working as CEO of Clover Studio, the team behind Viewtiful Joe, Okami and God Hand. He co-founded Platinum in 2007 with Shinji Mikami, director of Resident Evil/The Evil Within, Hideki Kamiya of Bayonetta and Tatsuya Minami.
Inaba further developed his design philosophy in a separate post on Platinum’s official site, saying he believed in “approaching ‘fun’ with complete sincerity. I believe that all of our employees take pride in being entertainers, always trying to strike the perfect balance between play and professionalism. “
Inaba added that “our overarching goal of self-publishing has remained unchanged since conception: to invent something new and share it with the rest of the world – showing our sincerity to creation every step of the way.”
PlatinumGames’ upcoming slate includes Bayonetta 3, which hits Switch this year. It also has Babylon’s Fall, Sol Cresta, and the plagued Project GG in the works as its first self-published game.
Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN.
