Okami sequel doesn’t mean Clovers Studio will only focus on sequels in the future, Kamiya says

Clovers Studio head Hideki Kamiya says the fact his new studio is working on an Okami sequel doesn’t mean it’ll focus solely on existing IP in the future.

Kamiya, who left PlatinumGames a year and a half ago to form the new studio with former Platinum colleague Kento Koyama, says he doesn’t want to give the impression that the newly founded Clovers Studio will specialise in sequels and spiritual successors.

In a new interview with Japanese publication GameSpark, Kamiya and Koyama were asked how they felt about the studio’s relationship with existing IP.

Koyama replied that Clovers’ key stance is that it “will not close off any possibilities when it comes to making games”, and that when it comes to considering what to work on next, the studio may think it could be interesting to make a sequel to an existing IP, or a spiritual successor, or an entirely new IP altogether.

“Basically, I don’t think that we limited the methods we use in our approach to our policy of creating interesting games,” Koyama said (via translation).

Agreeing, Kamiya stressed that the most important thing wasn’t whether the game was based on an existing series, but whether it’s interesting. “If we were asked to make a game that uses an existing IP, and if it looked like it would be interesting to ‘Cloverize’ it in our own way, then we would do it,” he said.

“But of course, if we get a project proposal that we really want to work on, and the desire to go it grows, then we’ll do an original work too. So I think it’s appropriate to say we won’t close off any possibilities – in the end, it all comes down to whether or not we get a ‘wow’ feeling from it.”

Kamiya concluded by saying he understands by creating a studio that immediately starts work on a sequel to one of his previous games, some people will get the impression that this is Clovers Studio’s goal with all its future games, but that this isn’t the case.

“We’re only working on one thing at the moment, and it just so happens that it’s an IP I was involved with in the past, so I think it’s inevitable that that impression is strong,” he explained. “The fact that we’re attracting attention because of that expectation is something we’re grateful for, but I want to reiterate that just because this is our first shot, it doesn’t mean that this is all we have to offer.”