Prolific development company PlatinumGames have developed and published beloved titles ranging from Bayonetta, Nier: Automata, and Vanquish, among various others. Their team has recently ported games, including Bayonetta and Vanquish, to Steam and Nintendo Switch, while also juggling work on smaller titles. In an interview with Keenan McCail of Game Informer, producer and head of development at Platinum, Atsushi Ibana, has revealed that these smaller titles will be self-published under their own intellectual property.
Ibana clarified that their smaller titles would be self-published in a similar manner to how indie games are distributed, but assured that they will still be working on publishing AAA titles to sustain their work. Committing to sole self-published games would be a risk, and one that a publisher with the magnitude of Platinum has no interest in pursuing exclusively.
Though, the sentiment alone provides a potentially new vessel for game publishing. Platinum may be paving the way for larger companies to occasionally produce smaller budgeted games, blurring the expectations of studio and independently produced games.
This process is one to watch intently, especially considering the fact that it has already worked for other developers. Though they are not of the enormity of Platinum, Ninja Theory had worked on successful titles such as DmC: Devil May Cry and Heavenly Sword before deciding to develop and publish their own game: Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. This project proved incredibly successful, was featured in various Top 10 lists of the year, and serves as a potential inspiration to encourage the creative autonomy Platinum is seeking.
Considering their already vibrant rapport with fans, and a litany of impressive titles, it’ll be exciting to follow what Platinum has to release in the future.