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Hideki Kamiya has once again expressed his interest in reviving Scalebound. The game he would have worked on with Microsoft was canceled in 2017.

News of Kamiya’s interest came from social media for his new development studio Clovers. In a 30-second video, we can see Hideki Kamiya watching YouTube videos of Scalebound in the office, reminiscing over the game’s development. A member of the team comments that the protagonist’s smartphone and headphones made the game seem like an isekai game, something that Kamiya notes is a trend right now. In the text of the post, Kamiya is quoted as saying he would “love to make it again someday”. He later followed this up with another post simply saying, “let’s do it, Phil!”, directly addressing Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox.

Scalebound was originally announced at Microsoft’s E3 2014 presentation as a collaboration between Microsoft and Hideki Kamiya’s previous studio, PlatinumGames. Despite positive reaction and some prominent marketing, the game would eventually be canceled in 2017. However, Kamiya has expressed interest in reviving the project before, as he’d previously stated this in an interview with IGN Japan in 2020. Microsoft currently retain the Scalebound IP.

Hideki Kamiya has since left PlatinumGames, but is clearly hoping that his new studio, Clovers, may be an opportunity to revive the project. The studio is named after the former Clover Studio at Capcom where Kamiya worked on Okami and Viewtiful Joe. The name is appropriate, as their first project will be a long-awaited sequel to Okami.

Scalebound was originally in development for the Xbox One and PC, but was canceled in 2017.

The post Hideki Kamiya Wants to Revive Scalebound Again appeared first on Siliconera.

In a Japanese interview between Hideki Kamiya and CLOVERS Inc CEO Kento Koyama and DenFamiNicoGamer, which the latter published shortly after the reveal of the Okami sequel, Kamiya discussed his departure from PlatinumGames. It also went over the new studio and Okami 2. [Thanks, DenFamiNicoGamer!]

Hideki Kamiya noted that he started having disagreements with PlatinumGames CEO Atsushi Inaba about the company's direction beginning around April 2023. The two continued arguing for about three months until July 2023, which is when they concluded that they could no longer reach an agreement. This immediately resulted in Kamiya's impending departure on October 12, 2023, even though the announcement would not go public until September 2023.

Even though Kento Koyama could leave PlatinumGames and establish CLOVERS Inc. in October 2023, Hideki Kamiya did not it right away, as he set up a YouTube channel in the same month. Koyama confirmed in the Japanese interview that Kamiya had a non-compete clause that required him to be unemployed for a year. That's why the CEO was only able to formally recruit Kamiya to the company's ranks on October 13, 2024, in order to respect the clause.

Kento Koyama also has a deep connection with Hideki Kamiya, as the former was the producer of the still-barely-revealed Project G.G. Neither Kamiya nor Koyama know about the project's ultimate fate following their departures. PlatinumGames still has yet to provide an update to the project as of the end of 2024 either.

Hideki Kamiya's journey has come full circle with all the recent announcements. Okami was the last title he directly worked on at Clover Studio before he left it in July 2006, ahead of Capcom's dissolution of the subsidiary at the end of the fiscal year. When Capcom confirmed the Okami sequel at The Game Awards 2024, it also revealed that Hideki Kamiya and CLOVERS would be part of the new game's development team.

However, Kamiya also noted in the interview that CLOVERS would not be a simple rehash of Clover Studio. During a discussion with Koyama, Kamiya noted that the name CLOVERS could be split to "C LOVERS." After brainstorming the meaning of C, which started with Kamiya's "Creative" input, the two came up with three more meanings: "Challenge," "Craftsmanship," and a fourth C that would be up to each individual.

Kamiya also added that he is more interested in working on AA and lower-scaled games than the massive AAA projects. Near the end of the interview, he announced that—despite having split away from PlatinumGames—he would be completely open to collaborating with his former company by having CLOVERS develop a new game based on an IP owned by PlatinumGames.

As of the end of 2024, Hideki Kamiya is leading CLOVERS' game studio in developing the sequel to Okami for Capcom. The companies have yet to announce the sequel's release window and platforms.

The post Hideki Kamiya Explained Why He Left PlatinumGames appeared first on Siliconera.

In a recent video interview with Unseen’s Ikumi Nakamura, game developer Hideki Kamiya talked about his reasons for blocking people on X (formerly Twitter). An active social media , Kamiya has garnered the reputation of being trigger happy when it comes to blocking people online.

When addressing his social media presence, Nakamura didn’t take long to ask about why Kamiya deems s that pester him as “insects.” Kamiya said that he prefers to use that word instead of outright insulting people. The developers also discussed that people online can often be unsavory to Kamiya, tossing offensive or tasteless comments at him as well as repeating themselves and asking the same questions. Kamiya and Nakamura speculated that what people online want is a reaction from him, and are not as interested in knowing the answer to the question they are posing.

In addition, Kamiya also insisted that when he is interacting with people online his intention is not to be xenophobic. Since the developer tweets in Japanese, he expects his audience to be native Japanese speakers. There are also non-Japanese people who are interested in his tweets and interact with him, which he reiterated is totally fine.

When tackling the topic of Hideki Kamiya's use of the blocking function on X (Twitter,) the developer said that he does it “light-heartedly,” and said that he will often unblock people if they ask through alternate s. He then went on to say in English "I like blocking, but I also like unblocking." Kamiya explained that since the beginning he has treated Twitter (now X) to an izakaya, or a Japanese bar, where he can have light-hearted and casual conversations with people.

The new video interview with Hideki Kamiya appeared on game studio Unseen’s YouTube channel, where head of studio Ikumi Nakamura asked a variety of questions to Kamiya and talked about their friendship and past work relationship. The video is over 42 minutes long, and is available in Japanese with English subtitles and closed captions.

You can check out the video interview here:

Unseen is currently developing Kemuri, which was revealed during TGA 2023 ceremony.

The post Hideki Kamiya Talked to Ikumi Nakamura About Why He Blocks People appeared first on Siliconera.

Game designer Hideki Kamiya followed the trend started by Masahiro Sakurai and created his own YouTube channel. On his first video, the creative briefly talked about his decision to leave PlatinumGames, as well as his future plans. Kamiya also reiterated that he is not retiring from the industry and he plans to continue making games in the future.

Kamiya revealed that he made the decision to leave PlatinumGames about 3 months ago, around July 2023. He also said that he feels very refreshed after leaving, and he’s been enjoying his paid vacations while watching TV.

When asked about his reason for leaving PlatinumGames, Kamiya said the following:

How can I put it… There’s no way I can put it. You guys understand, right? I’d say, I left the company because I wanted to follow my beliefs as a game creator. And to choose the path I think is right and move on.

Additionally, Kamiya shared that he will be unable to work on the same industry for a year, following his departure from PlatinumGames. While the creative gave no details, the reason for this is possibly due to a non-compete agreement, or another type of legally binding clause that impedes him from engaging in the trade for a period of time.

You can watch the first YouTube video that Hideki Kamiya ed below. The video is in Japanese, but it includes English subtitles via YouTube’s closed captions.

Kamiya half-jokingly stated that he plans to videos that will be “completely useless” in regards to the process of making games, as well as be “completely education free.” As an example, the creative included pictures, and documented the process of one of his first homemade recipes after his newfound unemployment.

The post Hideki Kamiya Starts YouTube Channel, Talks About Leaving Platinum appeared first on Siliconera.