Gamasutra 20 'Breakthrough' Honoree:
PlatinumGames
http://www.platinumgames.co.jp/
Studio overview
PlatinumGames
was originally founded in 2006 by former members of Capcom's now-dissolved
Clover Studios as Seeds Inc.; in October 2007 the company merged with another
band of ex-Capcomers, ODD Incorporated, and renamed itself. The developer is
headquartered in Osaka.
Key staff
Shinji
Mikami is best-known for creating the original Resident Evil and then reinvigorating the franchise as the director
of the critically acclaimed Resident Evil
4. He also was executive producer for titles including Viewtiful Joe
and Devil
May Cry while he was the general manager for Capcom Production Studio 4.
Atsushi
Inaba made a name for himself while at Capcom by producing a wide range of
games, including Steel Battalion,
Viewtiful Joe, Okami, God Hand, and Phoenix
Wright. He's joined by Hideki Kamiya, the creator and director of both Devil May Cry and Viewtiful Joe; he also directed the critical favorite Okami.
Resume highlights
While it
may not be typical to include such an untested company in a roundup such as
this, the incredible resumes of its founders earn PlatinumGames a deserved spot
on the list.
In May 2008, it was announced that the studio had signed a
four-game publishing deal with Sega; the three titles that have been announced
so far are all slated to come out in 2009.
What's next
PlatinumGames
has shown three of the four games that will be published by Sega. The
Kamiya-directed Bayonetta is an
action title starring a witch facing off against angels, DS RPG Infinite Line is a space opera inspired
by the sci-fi novella Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke and is being
developed in partnership with Japanese studio Nude Maker.
In addition, MadWorld is a very violent Wii title
featuring black-and-white graphics and dark humor. The fourth title, which has
yet to be announced, is being developed by Mikami.
Our take
"Some might
say that including PlatinumGames on this list is buying into the hype -- the
studio's public debut earlier this year has become one of the most talked-about
events in games in 2008.
But the pedigree of its developers is absolutely
without question: the soul of many of Capcom's major successes (and minor but
significant games -- like Breath of Fire:
Dragon Quarter, one of the most beloved sleeper titles on the PS2) has been
transferred into this new studio.
The studio is notable not just for the fact that it has so
much proven talent, but that the talent has added to its strength by banding
together to push out a rank of promising titles into the light - and talking
big about them.
Shaking off the image of Japanese development as staid and
corporate might be as important to the industry as a whole as the quality of its games."
-
Christian Nutt
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1.) Kyle Gabler
2.) Joseph M. Tringali, Jeremiah Slaczka
3.) Frank Lantz
4.) Katsura Hashino, Shigenori Soejima
5.) Tom Fulp, John Baez, Dan Paladin
6.) Max Hoberman
7.) Tim Schafer
8.) Goichi Suda
9.) Randy Pitchford
10.) Vlad Ceraldi, Joel DeYoung, Ron Gilbert
11.) Steve Fawkner
12.) Akihiro Hino
13.) Mark Healey, Alex Evans
14.) Mare Sheppard, Raigan Burns
15.) Shinji Mikami, Atsushi Inaba
16.) Dylan Cuthbert, Kenkichi Shimooka
17.) Jenova Chen, Kellee Santiago
18.) Masato Maegawa
19.) Michael Booth
20.) Dave Gilbert
Also, a football team is made up of a lot of people - however, that doesn't stop us from learning and talking about star players like Bret Favre, Joe Montana, etc.
Also, a film is made by many people - however, that doesn't stop us learning about key creators like William Golding, Steven Spielberg, Francois Truffaut, Roman Polanski, etc.
Also, many people are needed to construct a building - however that doesn't stop us giving recognition to key designers like Frank Lloyd Wright, Daniel Libskind, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, etc.
(Shall I continue...?)
There is no excuse for the game industry to obstinately refuse to acknowledge and celebrate the talent of those individuals who have exceptional talent.
I'm...not sure what you want!
I sure am making a post on the internet. Hi mom!
Besides, I didn't know posts could be edited. Where's the button?
We can't go in to these studios and evaluate their skills and find that hidden gem. Nobody will pay us to do that. It's the responsibility of two parties, the companies themselves, and the persons themselves.
-end quote-
There IS a completely logical and near-effortless alternative: contacting the developers before these articles are written and polling them directly for key personnel on their staff. For instance, some noteworthy people who work/have worked with Dave Gilbert are Peter Gresser (Lead Musician), Ian Schlaepfer (Lead Artist for Blackwell Legacy/ Portrait Artist for Blackwell Convergence), Erin Robinson (Lead Artist for Blackwell Unbound), and myself (sprites/animations for The Shivah and Lead Artist for Blackwell Convergence).
I'm sure a quick email could've gotten you all this and more, though! :)
"with Activision apparently opting not to publish the title after acquiring Vivendi Games. "
Err... Sorry????
It's Vivendi who aquired Activision & merged it with Vivendi Games. Yes it's true that the Activision board now lead the game branch of Vivendi but still.. Vivendi IS THE BOSS.
Vivendi holds 54% of Activision Blizzard, so I'm not sure you can tell that Activision aquired anything..
Citing other industries and media is no excuse. I find it just as bad in the film industry that the talent of a whole team and the culture of the company that team resides in (which contributes hugely to how a game is produced) is neglected in favor of single-person worship/stardom.
So, I think that naming the companies AND some of the names of the leads there is appropiate.
Just naming the few leads - like you suggest - is just not enough.
No, Vivendi Games is indeed now a subsidiary of Activision. Also, Vivendi (the parent company, not Games) owns a controlling interest in Activision.
Excuse for what? For standing up for the contributions of key creators?
Like it or not, experience and hundreds of years of history show that key talented people - leaders, shapers - make a difference far out of proportion to their singular number. You can argue against this, but you do so in the face of a vast amount of evidence.
If you have a team of 100, you can pull someone at random and the creative output probably won't change - but if you pull a leader, a shaper, then suddenly the quality and quantity of that output falls a full magnitude.
But what's more - recognition of the effort AND talent of individuals is fundamental to progress out of the dark ages of collectivist tribalism into the enlightenment of self-awareness and humanistic accomplishment.
When faced with real talent, humans generally skew along three trends. They actively suppress it (the old "barrel of monkeys pulling down anyone who rises"); they tolerate it, and let it be "part of the team"; or they openly celebrate it and actively search for and fund it (and that means rewarding it).
I am arguing for the latter.
This, however, already happens. Maybe not enough though.
someone started http://www.internetgamedatabase.com/ but it has no content yet...
What is wrong to actually SHOW some people, see the people who make consumers and gamers enjoy and have good time for HOURS. Show the people we want to cherish, copy and celebrate.
Claiming it's unfair for the ones who are not on the picture is pure BS and so lame. If they work on a project they love next time they will, and next time they will demand to appear on the "collective shot for Gamasutra, the gamedev industry bible".
It's all about making change! We're not made in the stone.
I love to see the face of Introversion guys, or have a big picture of Ken Levine or Will Wright or Jon Blow speaking on a video stream... Watching Raph Koster playing guitar and all,
Of course you can be a big fat nerdy gamedev and so what, making efforts like Gabe Newell (he did lose weight and it was not to use Outlook) isn't bad for you.
And it's certainly good for us, gamedev people. Step up and exist!