Whether or not you are a fan of PlatinumGames’ past work, it looks like the future might bring a potential fork in the road. The company known for making action-oriented single-player games is looking to mix things up according to a new report.
I bet you are wondering, “Well, what exactly is Platinum planning on doing?” Thanks to GameRant, the website summarized a long blog post on platinumgames.com, which details the company’s plans.
In addition to the above, you can read the following excerpt regarding PlatinumGames take on this thing called “live ops”:
“The announcement declared that Platinum Games will be creating a new studio that will develop live-service, or as the interview referred to them, “live-ops” games. These, like other live-service games, will be designed to have updates and additional content added on after the game’s initial release.”
If you are feeling a bit skeptical of said site’s summary, you can read the official explanation for yourself by Atsushi Inaba — the executive vice president and studio head — below:
“Console Live Ops Development
So far, the name Platinum Games has been nearly synonymous with single-player action games. But going forward, we’re looking to expand into new genres and styles of play. One of these new challenges for us is console live ops game development. These aren’t games we’d work on until they were done, and that’s all—rather, we’d continue working on them to provide new content long after release. We want to explore this ongoing development pattern in the home console space.
Our new Tokyo office will play a major role as we expand into live ops game development. The starting core members of our future live ops team who’ll be working there are already a part of Platinum Games.
Platinum Games Tokyo is home to both developers interested in refining Platinum Games-style gameplay and developers who are interested in exploring live ops support. They’ll be hard at work on electrifying content for you soon.”
In other words, consoles are on the team’s radar, and it looks live service games will be a part of that same strategy moving forward.
I should also mention that Tencent is backing the company through a capital alliance partnership. The reason for this partnership is said by the president and CEO of PlatinumGames, Kenichi Sato, to help create new IPs and operations like the “live ops” endeavor.
In other words, when PlatinumGames partnered with Tencent back in December 2019, know that this allowed the company to start work on Project G.G. — the team’s first original IP.
Lastly, Sato believes the alliance with Tencent and the “live ops” move will help shape a “big year” for PlatinumGames:
“Between our capital alliance with Tencent, the new Platinum Games Tokyo, and more changes to come, 2020 is shaping up to be a very big year for us.”
You can learn more about PlatinumGames’ future plans by paying platinumgames.com a visit.
