In a recent interview at VGC, PlatinumGames CEO Atsushi Inaba shared some interesting remarks regarding acquisitions and the Japanese gaming industry. According to Inaba, PlatinumGames would consider acquisition offers if the company’s freedom was maintained. Inaba also says it’s “weird” that mergers and acquisitions are not as common in Japan than in the rest of the world. Here’s what he had to say regarding acquisitions, Activision Blizzard and the Japanese gaming industry:
“The most important thing for us is to have the freedom to make the games that we want to make,” he said. “What I hear about the recent acquisitions, I don’t think Microsoft is going to start micromanaging Activision to where they take away all their freedom… I don’t think it’s going to be a relationship like that.
I think there’s going to be a lot of mutual respect there and I think Activision will be able to continue doing what they do best. That’s also what’s most important to us at the end of the day, whatever form that takes for us and our company. So I would not turn anything down, as long as our freedom was still respected.
I agree, you don’t see that a lot in Japan and personally, I think it’s weird,” he said. “For some of these big companies with all their money you sometimes think, ‘come on! Buy some companies up already!’ It does feel strange to see Japanese companies being passive all of the time.”
It looks like Inaba is not shy in taking PlatinumGames in a more corporate driven direction in his short tenure so far. PlatinumGames’ next game, Bayonetta 3, releases in 2022 for Switch. Stay tuned at Final Weapon for the latest Japanese gaming news and updates!
