Platinum Games now working on first fully-owned IP

Acclaimed Japanese developer Platinum Games is currently creating a title to which it completely owns the rights.

Speaking at Kyoto's BitSummit event, producer and co-founder Atsushi Inaba teased that the studio is working on a new IP fully owned by Platinum, Dual Shockers reports. The project seems to be in very early stages, as Inaba described the IP as "formless [and] shapeless".

This is the first time in the eleven years Platinum has been operating that the studio has had full control over the IP its handling, having relinquished rights to all its previous original titles to the various publishers it has partnered with. Sega, for instance, retains ownership for the likes of MadWorld, Vanquish and Bayonetta.

Platinum has also developed a number of titles for other companies using established brands such as Konami's Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Nintendo's Star Fox Zero.

Inaba added that the work that will be going into the new IP makes it unlikely that Platinum will be able to maintain its pace of releasing at least one new game per year - something it has accomplished since 2012. A new director will also be brought on board for the mysterious project, and while no further details were given at this point, Inaba promised more will be revealed before his next BitSummit address.

Platinum has had some rough times in the past couple of years. While reviewing reasonably well, Star Fox Zero suffered the series' lowest launch sales in Japan, and president Tetsuya Minami stepped down around the same time. Earlier this year it emerged that Scalebound, its new IP developed in partnership with Microsoft, has been cancelled.

On a more positive note, the studio's latest release - Nier: Automata, published by Square Enix - has already managed to shift more than 1m units when you combine digital sales and physical shipments. Demand for Platinum's previous hits have also prompted PC ports of Bayonetta and Vanquish.