One of the most unexpected announcements during Friday’s The Game Awards was when a visibly moved Geoff Keighley rolled out the trailer confirming that a new Okami is finally happening, developed by original creator Hideki Kamiya.
The latter is known as a very outspoken gentleman and he left PlatinumGames in 2023, after which he was quarantined for a year due to a no-compete clause. Since then, he has founded a new studio called Clovers Inc. and contacted his old employer Capcom to release a new Okami together.
In a long and very meaty interview at Denfaminico, full of the rather sharp comments that Kamiya is known for, he tells us what he did during his quarantine, explains why he left PlatinumGames and talks about his new studio.
Regarding his departure, he says it was absolutely necessary because otherwise he would have lost the ability to make unique games, as PlatinumGames moved in a direction he could not support (translated by Bing):
“This is purely my personal opinion, but I thought, “If I continue working here, my artistic spirit will die.” As a result, I thought that I should not release a work that I cannot take responsibility for to the users.”
Speaking about his new studio, Kamiya also says that he is not interested in so-called AAA games, and will focus on AA and smaller projects:
“Personally, I’m not interested in huge, what are generally called AAA titles.
In terms of categories, I would like to play some larger-scale games, such as AA titles, but I also want to play smaller, more exciting titles.”
Of course, we don’t know when the new Okami will actually be released, but we’re definitely interested to see what Hideki Kamiya can deliver when he no longer feels constrained by a cumbersome corporate management with creative differences.