PlatinumGames has dispelled rumors of a Microsoft acquisition, which surfaced last year after Xbox boss Phil Spencer said that he was eyeing a Japanese studio.
In an interview with Video Games Chronicle, studio head Atsushi Inaba said that while he can’t comment on what Microsoft does and says behind closed doors, no conversation about an acquisition ever took place between them.
I did read some rumours about Xbox wanting to purchase PlatinumGames, and I thought, ‘people on the internet write the craziest stuff’, because that conversation has not come to our doorstep at all. That said, we’re not Microsoft, so we don’t know what happens behind their doors, we don’t know if they had any thoughts about it possibly.
We’ve not had any talks like that, but I think even if it was a possibility, we’re now going into more independent self-publishing. It’s not that we’re disinterested in Microsoft, but if the relationship were to be us working under their direction, I feel like that would be the opposite of what we’re trying to do now and limit our possibilities. Any opportunities that would limit our freedom I think we would be against.
Game director Hideki Kamiya jokingly said that Microsoft might have changed its mind about the acquisition when it realized that he was still working at PlatinumGames.
Elsewhere in the interview, Kamiya said that although he’s not in a position to offer any advice to Microsoft, he feels that Xbox hasn’t done well in Japan because it doesn’t cater to local tastes, unlike the PlayStation.
[Source: Video Games Chronicle]
