The video game industry has many quirks, but also some things common in other industries that don’t make much sense in this one. Perhaps the most obvious of these are the non-compete clauses. While it is understandable that they seek to prevent creatives from taking their own projects to other studios, this only ends up hurting the creative and the players. Or at least, it does when the creative is unwilling to find a way to do something while waiting for the clause to expire.
That has been the case for Hideki Kamiya. Having recently left PlatinumGames, the company he founded and which is known for being behind cult games like Vanquish or Bayonetta, he now finds himself at the same crossroads. In the next year, he can neither create nor join any other studio. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to be inactive.
Hideki Kamiya has become a youtuber. Or at least, he has opened a Youtube channel. Having already uploaded his first video, in this one he explains his reasons for leaving PlatinumGames and also what his intentions are for the future. On the first, he has stated that it was because he considers that in PlatinumGames he could no longer continue creating following his own beliefs as an artist. On the second, he does not plan to retire yet, as he wants to continue creating games, but due to the non-compete clauses, he cannot do it for a year.
That is why, in the meantime, he has decided to focus on his YouTube channel. While he has not yet specified what this channel will focus on, or whether it will have any sort of regularity or continuity, it seems likely that it will be his creative project while he is able to get back to work. An interesting decision, one that many other Japanese developers have made in recent years, and one that may work for someone with such a strong personality as Hideki Kamiya.
