Platinum: "Japanese games companies have lost their vigour"

PlatinumGames president and CEO Tatsuya Minami has outlined a new vision for the company, as he lamented the decline of Japanese influence on the industry and proclaimed his studio as "The Japanese Standard Bearer in Global Competition".

Writing on the company's website, Minami recalls how the developer of critically acclaimed titles such as Baynoetta and Vanquish was established with the credo "deliver smiles and surprises around the world".

Following the company's five year anniversary Minami wrote: "I believe that games exist to offer fresh surprises to those who play them. As members of the games business, we have always pursued the creation of the new, and we take pride in doing our part to support our industry.

We seek to ignite a Japanese games revival. And our troops will have the highest morale.

Tatsuya Minami, PlatinumGames

"However, the current games business is struggling. The 'fresh surprises' I mention are becoming few and far between, especially in our home of Japan. Not so long ago, Japan lead the world's games business, and it was not a stretch to call games a uniquely Japanese specialty; however, now it appears that Japanese games companies have lost their vigour."

Characterising PlatinumGames as "one of the very few healthy Japanese games companies", Minami complained that: "Series grow ever-longer; original titles are on the decline. Games with new at their core are disappearing. Japanese games that garner worldwide acclaim are slipping away."

"We want our contributions to not only be towards the games industry as a whole, but also be contributions towards our homeland of Japan. That is the principle that will guide our company into the future," added Minami.

"We aim to bring happiness to gamers worldwide. We seek to ignite a Japanese games revival. And our troops will have the highest morale," he concluded. "We're in this fight for the long haul."

PlatinumGames was founded in 2006, following the closure of internal Capcom team Clover Studio - previously responsible for the Viewtiful Joe and Okami franchises. PlatinumGames has so far released four titles via publisher Sega: MadWorld, Infinite Space, Bayonetta and Vanquish.

A fifth title named Anarchy Reigns has also recently been announced for this year.

Although prominent producers Atsushi Inaba and Hideki Kamiya continue at the company the level of involvement from Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami is currently unclear, following the acquisition of his studio Tango Gameworks by Bethesda owner ZeniMax.