Platinum Games isn't interested in Xbox acquisition if it limits their freedom
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Bayonetta developer Platinum Games has revealed the they wouldn’t be interested in a potential Xbox acquisition if it would limit their freedom.
In an interview with VideoGamesChronicles, Platinum Games studio head Atsushi Indaba revealed that an Xbox acquisition is the complete opposite of what the studio wants at this moment in time.
“I did read some rumours about Xbox wanting to purchase PlatinumGames, and I thought, ‘people on the internet write the craziest stuff’, because that conversation has not come to our doorstep at all,” Inaba told VGC.
“That said, we’re not Microsoft, so we don’t know what happens behind their doors, we don’t know if they had any thoughts about it possibly.”
With the studio’s recent push into multiplatform self-publishing with the likes of the developer’s hugely successful The Wonderful 101 Remastered, Inaba expresses that an Xbox acquisition wouldn’t provide them with the freedom they want.
“Eaven if it was a possibility, we’re now going into more independent self-publishing,” said the Platinum Games head. “It’s not that we’re disinterested in Microsoft, but if the relationship were to be us working under their direction, I feel like that would be the opposite of what we’re trying to do now and limit our possibilities. Any opportunities that would limit our freedom I think we would be against.”
Xbox boss Phil Spencer has expressed a large interest in the console manufacturer gaining a first-party Japanese studio for their recently expanded Xbox Games Studio collective.
While Microsoft has recently picked up Hellblade developer Ninja Theory, Wasteland developer InXile, Fallout New Vegas developer Obsidian Entertainment and more, all of the console manufacturer’s studios are strictly Western based.
A Japanese studio would be of huge help for Xbox’s Eastern presence, an unflattering aspect of the brand that Phil Spencer has sworn to course correct.
Xbox did originally try to partner with Platinum Games back in 2013 with the unfortunately cancelled RPG Scalebound. While Platinum and Microsoft have both expressed they don’t want the other blamed for the game’s cancellation, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has still expressed regrets regarding the game’s cancellation.
