Platinum Games talks about PC development, Kickstarter-funded games, and becoming its own publisher.
Platinum Games, the developer behind console action games Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, and upcoming Wii U game The Wonderful 101, may move beyond dedicated console development to bring its games to the PC, says executive director Atsushi Inaba.
Inaba told Polygon at Tokyo Game Show that making games for PC and releasing them through Valve's Steam service — and funding its own projects through Kickstarter — is something the developer is "very interested in."
Platinum does not currently have any PC games in development, Inaba explained, adding that the decision on which platforms the company's games are released is primarily up to their publishers.
"We haven't released anything on Steam yet, or any PC games for that matter, so I'm not in a position to encourage other people to do so," Inaba said. "However, I used to belong to a big publisher [Capcom]. And if you're at a big publisher, business gets carried on just seeing your game on console. Many publishers don't view PC as an important platform."
"It would be great if we could do a Kickstarter and gather enough money for a game to be released on Steam"
The Osaka-based developer currently has titles in the works for Wii U, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.
"Console game development budgets are really big," he said, "so we need publishing partners to create those games. I was thinking — with our own money — about creating a PC title for Steam. It would give us the possibility to become a publisher, which is very attractive to me."
"If you think about the console market in Japan, and compare it to the world, it's not that big," Inaba said. "So I view the PC as an area with huge potential. It would be great if we could do a Kickstarter and gather enough money for a game to be released on Steam."
Inaba says he recently visited Valve when he attended PAX Prime in Seattle. He says Valve talked about its future goals, where the company was headed, and "things that we can't really talk about, unfortunately."
"We got the impression that they are a very open-minded company," he said.
Platinum Games may also return to handheld game development. After releasing space simulation Infinite Space for the Nintendo DS, Platinum's games have only appeared on current generation home video game consoles.
That too may change.
"We are very interested in the Nintendo 3DS as a platform," Inaba said. "I view 3DS as a proper, straightforward evolution from a platform that has had huge success. Being able to view stereoscopic 3D with the naked eye is a great innovation, but very straightforward, so I'm very interested in it."
"Currently we have a lot of titles in development, and we can't fund a 3DS game ourselves," he said. "So there's nothing in the works. But I'm very positive on it."