PlatinumGames Welcomes Nintendo Veteran to Its Management Team

Takao Yamane joins Japanese studio PlatinumGames as Vice President in charge of game publishing.

Former Vice President of Nintendo France from 1999 to 2007, Commercial Director of Nintendo Europe since 2004, and General Manager of the Licensing Department of Nintendo Japan since 2015, Takao Yamane will bring significant changes to PlatinumGames along with CEO Atsushi Inaba and game designer Hideki Kamiya. If Bayonetta 3 and NieR Automata on the Nintendo Switch are sure to revive the Osaka-based company’s finances, while Babylon’s Fall and Sol Cresta are two bitter failures, both critically and commercially, that once again tarnished the reputation of the Japanese studio after the cancellation of Scalebound in partnership with Microsoft and the end contract for the joint development of Granblue Fantasy Relink with Cygames.

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The presentation of Project GG is expected in June 2023.

PlatinumGames, open for takeover in a matter of months thanks to a period of consolidation in the video game industry, can count on a significant financial contribution to enable Project GG to become an ambitious AAA publisher. In development since 2020, this game will be much more than just a superhero action game and will feature new and innovative game mechanics such as Bayonetta and The Wonderful 101. According to Takao Yamane, Atsushi Inaba and Hideki Kamiya, E3 2023 can be an ideal place for proper disclosure. Finally, if more or less large games are in different stages of production for different publishers, PlatinumGames is already preparing a new license, in addition to Project GG.