Platinum Games’ American producer, JP Kellams, is leaving the company, he announced this week. After nearly a decade with the studio behind games like Bayonetta, Vanquish, and the recently-cancelled Scalebound, he’s looking to branch out, he said.
Kellams wrote:
15 years ago, I came to Japan to fulfill my childhood dream of making games with my heroes,” he said. “No matter how hard the day, I always walked into the office in awe of the creativity around me, and with the joy that working with each and every one of my coworkers brought me. It is hard to say goodbye to them, to PlatinumGames, and to Japan. Yet, embracing new challenges is part of my DNA, and after almost 10 years of working with the team (more with my Capcom/Clover days), it is time to move on to new challenges that I’m excited to share soon. I’ll be forever grateful to all people who have touched this journey, because they’ve shaped who I am. Platinum maintains its luster forever.”
Scalebound probably had something to do with it.
Kellams was involved with Scalebound from the get-go and eventually led the big team on the game, but it’s unclear whether the game’s cancellation was the impetus for the change and whether the push came from Platinum or from Kellams himself. Either way, the cancellation probably had something to do with it.
After time at Capcom and Platinum, we’re expecting to see him land on his feet at somewhere like From Software or Koei Tecmo, hopefully making weird games that can appeal to both Japanese and American audiences the way Platinum’s games have. We had the chance to talk to him (and Platinum lead Hideki Kamiya) at E3 2016, and we hope we’re doing that again before too long.
