Late last year, Platinum Games revealed that it was working on two small-scale projects that it was looking to self-publish based on a model similar to Ninja Theory’s. At the recent Reboot Develop event, the NieR: Automata studio shed more light on its decision to work independently.
Head of development Atsushi Inaba and co-founder Hideki Kamiya told Games Industry that publisher involvement sometimes restricts developers to the point where they have no control over their own IPs. For instance, the decision to make sequels would rest entirely with the publisher – a restriction that also pushed Ninja Theory to go independent.
“To really have control over what you’ve made, you have to fund it and make it yourself,” explained Inaba. “That allows you a lot of freedom, a lot of different options. That’s why, if you’re a developer of our size, it’s why you would want to do more self-publishing and self-funding.”
Kamiya said that Platinum Games has the “confidence and selfish desire” to have control over its projects, and doesn’t want to be bogged down by frustrations and publisher control. “Even when I was making the first Bayonetta, there were some frustrations that were occurring between not funding it ourselves and being controlled in certain areas by other companies,” he revealed.
Although Platinum says it has wanted to go independent for a while, the cancellation of Microsoft’s Scalebound may have been the final push.
[Source: Games Industry]
