Former Bayonetta Origins Director Joins Sony’s Housemarque

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home January 7, 2025 43 Views 4 Min Read
Former Bayonetta Origins Director Joins Sony's Housemarque



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Summary

  • The director of Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon has left PlatinumGames for a lead game designer role at Returnal developer Housemarque.
  • PlatinumGames has seen the departures of some key developers recently, raising some worries about the studio’s current direction.
  • Housemarque has been working on a new IP since the launch of Returnal in 2021.

The director of Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon has exited PlatinumGames to join Returnal developer Housemarque. This update comes amid a purportedly tumultuous time for PlatinumGames, and the departure of the lead creative behind Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon lends further credence to the uncertainty around the studio’s current direction.

Back in September 2023, PlatinumGames’ most prominent developer, Hideki Kamiya, announced his departure from the Osaka-based studio. To explain his decision, the famed Bayonetta creator cited the dissonance between the direction PlatinumGames was heading in compared to his own inclinations as a game developer. One year later, Kamiya was surprisingly announced to be leading development on Capcom’s Okami sequel at The Game Awards 2024, complete with a revived Clover Studio. However, this long-awaited reveal gave rise to concerns about the future of PlatinumGames.

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Shortly after the Okami sequel announcement, some of PlatinumGames’ top developers were rumored to have left the studio as they’d wiped all mentions of it from their social media profiles. One of these developers was Abebe Tinari, the director of 2023’s Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon, who revealed that he’d left Japan and moved to Helsinki, Finland. Tinari’s LinkedIn profile has now spilled the beans on his decision to move to Helsinki, as the former PlatinumGames developer has taken up a lead game designer role at Housemarque.

Bayonetta Origins Director Now Working on Housemarque’s New IP

Housemarque’s last release was its critically-acclaimed roguelike shooter Returnal in May 2021, following which the Helsinki-based studio was acquired by PlayStation. Ever since then, Housemarque has been chipping away on a new IP, and it seems all too likely that Tinari will be lending his talents to the same. It’s yet to be determined when Housemarque plans to reveal its next game, but many fans don’t expect an announcement until at least 2026.

As for PlatinumGames, it’s too soon to ascertain how much of an impact the recent high-profile developer exits will have on the studio’s future projects. Recently, PlatinumGames announced a year-long celebration for Bayonetta‘s 15th anniversary, which might include the announcement of a new entry in the series as well. Other than a potential new Bayonetta game, PlatinumGames has also been working on a new IP dubbed Project GG since 2020. However, Project GG was being helmed by Hideki Kamiya, and now that he’s no longer at PlatinumGames, there’s no telling how much the game’s development may have slowed down.

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