Platinum says it could show Project GG at next year’s E3
The game will offer more than typical Platinum action, Kamiya says
PlatinumGames’ ambitious Project GG may be in a state to be shown off by E3 2023, its execs have claimed.
In a new interview with Famitsu to discuss the appointment of former Nintendo licensing general manager Takao Yamane as its new vice president and CBO, the topic of Project GG was raised.
Announced in February 2020, Project GG was described at the time as an action game featuring a giant hero, described as the ‘climax’ to director Hideki Kamiya’s superhero trilogy, following Viewtiful Joe and The Wonderful 101.
Now in Famitsu’s latest interview it appears the studio’s ambitions for the game have become greater over time, following its decision to self-publish and investment from Tencent.
When asked by Famitsu about the game’s current development state, vice president Hideki Kamiya answered: “I can’t give you any specifics (laugh). I can only speak in the abstract, but I don’t think that Project GG would have become a project of the scale it is today if it was just my idea alone.
“Project GG started when I first presented the core of the game. That core is also contained in the teaser trailer. To put it simply, I was only thinking about what was in that video.
“The way we expanded from there had a lot to do with [president and CEO Atsushi] Inaba’s big ambitions. Rather than creating a single game, Inaba’s proposal was to say ‘this is the kind of game Platinum Games is going to make from now on’.
“In response to this, I said ‘I see, we could certainly realise this in a way that would flesh out the core of Project GG’, and we expanded it into the large-scale project that it is today. I personally did not expect the game to take this form.”
When asked if the game was a typical Platinum action title like Kamiya’s previous projects, he replied that while the game will be similar in that it revolves around one ‘core’ gameplay mechanic, it wouldn’t be pure action this time.
“Previous titles have had a core game component, ” he explained. “For example, in The Wonderful 101 there was ‘Unite Morph’, and in Bayonetta there was ‘Witch Time’. A core system similar to these is what is hinted at in the teaser for Project GG.
“If we had produced the game in its original form, it would probably have been produced as a pure action game, as it has been up to now. However, Inaba’s ambitions took over and the game expanded greatly. So this game will not end up being all action.”
Inaba added that plans for the game were initially modest until it received investment from Chinese tech giant Tencent in early 2020.
“From the initial planning stage, it was something that could be made into a small game or a big game,” he explained. “From the very beginning, we decided to produce it as the first in-house IP created by Kamiya.
“However, if we continued to make it, it looked like it would be a small-scale game, given Platinum Games’ physical strength. Then there was the capital tie-up with Tencent, and we decided to do something more interesting on a larger scale. However, the fundamentals of the game have not changed since the beginning.
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Finally, when asked when more information on the game would be shown, Yamane said: “Hmm, well, let’s see. If I had to say it, I’d say ‘See you in Los Angeles next June’. Is that what it sounds like?”
Asked to elaborate on whether this specifically meant E3 2023 or Summer Game Fest, Yamane said: “To put it another way, we won’t have any information until that point. Please look forward to further information.”
Inaba added: “The sooner you say it out, the sooner you can start running towards it, eh Kamiya?”
“Yes,” Kamiya added. “If we say that, we have to make it in time… I guess.”
