Hideki Kamiya says companies need to do more to make classic games available
“If people want to play a classic game and they can’t… it’s holding game culture back.”
Hideki Kamiya has argued that companies need to do more to ensure that their classic games are readily available to players, in order to preserve “game culture”.
Speaking to VGC in a newly-published interview, the Devil May Cry and Bayonetta creator said that the recent explosion in retro game prices (alleged by some to be due to market manipulation) was creating problems for genuine players who want to buy these games.
But he also argued that if the IP owners of classic games made more efforts to keep them available on modern systems, this would be less of an issue.
“As a collector myself, I understand the lure of wanting to have that game in the sealed package,” Kamiya told us. “People want the value of that package and not necessarily of the game itself.
“But as a fan, it’s a problem if somebody wants to play a game but they can’t get it because it’s being traded in these ridiculous marketplaces.
“And the responsibility for keeping those games available belongs to the company that owns the IP. If people want to play a classic game and they can’t, because it’s not available on new platforms and can’t be found in its original form either, that’s like a threat… it’s holding game culture back.
“The people who own the rights to these games should be actively making moves to preserve game culture and making games available to everyone who wants to play them.”
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PlatinumGames interview: ‘Only one project in my career went according to schedule’
Last year Platinum re-released its 2013 Wii U title The Wonderful 101, ensuring that it could be played by Switch, PS4 and PC owners.
And the company told VGC last week that it would be interested in bringing Wii U title Star Fox Zero to Nintendo Switch, if the platform holder was interested.
A recent surge in retro game auction prices has seen the market for used games getting noticeably more expensive in recent years.
A report last month alleges that this is partly down to fraud in the grading and auction process, with grading company Wata Games and auction company Heritage Auctions accused of being complicit in artificially inflating their value (claims each company denies).
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