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Hideki Kamiya Channel
In a recent interview, Hideki Kamiya, former Vice President at PlatinumGames, now a founder and Lead Game Designer of a new game studio CLOVERS, shared some details about his journey at Capcom and the ‘spirit’ of the creative process that he embraced from his colleague Shinji Mikami.
The name of Kamiya’s studio, CLOVERS, sounds almost identical to Capcom’s former existing Clover Studio, where Kamiya worked on Okami. However, the developer said (in a talk with Game*Spark (via Automaton) that it is not a reference and explained: “If there’s anything I’m particular about, it’s Capcom Production Studio 4. Studio 4 is where my career started, and where I learned from Shinji Mikami – a person who has been absolutely indispensable to my career, both as a creator and as my superior.” Mikami was the head of Studio 4, one of Capcom's departments, which worked on titles such as Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, and Resident Evil 4.
Kamiya explained that he learned a lot from Mikami and highly appreciated the creative approach, “the spirit” of Studio 4: “Back then, we used to call what Mikami taught us the ‘spirit of the 4th.’ The reason I left PlatinumGames was because the company’s way of thinking was gradually shifting towards a modern model of game development that doesn’t place importance on the creators’ individuality.” He also noted: “Even if it meant the end of my career as a creator, I couldn’t allow myself to kill my soul in order to work in an environment that I didn’t agree with.”
The developer still values the approach he learned from Mikami and though he doesn't directly quote him, he takes his teachings as the base for the creative process: “In the course of developing games up to now, I have always made decisions based on his teachings, and I have shared them with the production team.”
Currently, the new Hideki Kamiya’s studio CLOVERS is working on the sequel to the beloved Okami, which was announced at The Game Awards 2024. The title will continue the story of the first installment and is being developed with RE Engine, used for powering such games as Monster Hunter Wilds, Resident Evil 2 Remake, and Street Fighter 6. As for the plot of the sequel, the details remain undisclosed.
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