Hideki Kamiya, the very charismatic and outgoing programmer and game director, has confirmed to be stepping away from PlatinumGames, the studio he co-founded with Resident Evil creator/director Shinji Mikami and Tatsuya Minami back in 2006. Kamiya was promoted to Vice President last year, so suffice to say this news seemed to come out of nowhere. PlatinumGames released a statement on Twitter/X:

We regret to announce that Hideki Kamiya will be leaving PlatinumGames on October 12th, 2023.

We are truly grateful for his creative ideas, leadership, and contribution to the growth of PlatinumGames from our start-up to this very day. We believe he will continue to succeed in his future endeavors as a game creator. We are looking forward to seeing the game industry grow into a better place with him in it. We wish him all the best for the future!

pic.twitter.com/GHiSugPF42

— PlatinumGames Inc. (@platinumgames) September 25, 2023

Kamiya's departure seemed to be his own decision, as he stated via his social media account. "It was not an easy decision to make", in his own words. It appears there may have been odds with the direction PlatinumGames intends to go.

As announced on the official PlatinumGames X account, I will be leaving PlatinumGames on October 12, 2023. This came after a lot of consideration based on my own beliefs. and was by no means an easy decision to make.

However, I feel this outcome is for the best. I will continue to create in my Hideki Kamiya way. I hope you'll keep your eyes peeled.

As announced on the official PlatinumGames X account,
I will be leaving PlatinumGames on October 12, 2023.
This came after a lot of consideration based on my own beliefs.
and was by no means an easy decision to make.
(1/2)

— 神谷英樹 Hideki Kamiya (@PG_kamiya) September 25, 2023

Hideki Kamiya was known for being the creator of Devil May Cry during his days at Capcom, as well as Viewtiful Joe. Bayonetta was PlatinumGames' biggest mainstream release in 2009, seeing 3 entries. The Wii exclusive Madworld also came out that same year.

The studio itself saw a bit of a roadblock in creative direction, as their high-end games like Astral Chain, released for the Nintendo Switch, saw critical praise and was a decent seller for the hybrid console (1.3 million copies), but peaked early. Through the production of Bayonetta 3, the game was originally supposed to be an open world action game, but limitations scale production back, seeing the project start from square one. PlatinumGames had toyed with the idea of branching into live service model games for a more sustainable line of revenue, perhaps this future was something Kamiya and PlatinumGames were at odds over.