The third announcement in Platinum Games’ big Platinum 4 campaign was made this morning. The Osaka-based studio is opening a new branch in Tokyo specifically focused on live operations. In a blog post, studio head, Atsushi Inaba, explained that Platinum is interested in the model of games that continue to evolve with new content months and years after release. “So far, the name Platinum Games has been nearly synonymous with single-player action games,” said Inaba. “But going forward, we’re looking to expand into new genres and styles of play. One of these new challenges for us is console live ops game development.”
The news doesn’t make it clear whether this work is going into a specific, unannounced project. Only that the Japanese developer is interested in exploring that style of game development. The developer did confirm, at least, that this is all for console games. Platinum said the recent investment from Tencent has empowered it to finally take this step, as well as start developing Project GG in earnest. The Tokyo branch opens officially in April, but it already has a few team members. Although Platinum will be self-publishing those projects, it also remains interested in working with third-party publishers. The studio is currently juggling Bayonetta 3 for Nintendo, and Babylon’s Fall for Square Enix.
