Takao Yamane, former managing director of Nintendo Europe, has joined PlatinumGames

PlatinumGames has named Nintendo Europe’s former managing director Takao Yamane as its new chief business officer.

As noted by Siliconera, the Bayonetta and Nier: Automata developer said the hire will “significantly” change its prospects and pledged to reveal more details later this week in an interview with Famitsu.

Yamane has spent over two decades at Nintendo, initially joining the console maker as vice president of Nintendo France before stepping up as managing director of sales planning and strategy at Nintendo Europe. He has also worked as general manager of Nintendo’s licensing department for over seven years.

Explaining why he chose to join Platinum, Yamane said he wanted to help the studio’s “dreams become reality” and waxed lyrical about projects including the upcoming Project GG — which was first teased in 2020 — calling the game “incredible.”

There’s been a flurry of change at Platinum in recent months. In January this year, Kenichi Sato stepped down as president and CEO and was replaced by company VP Atsushi Inaba.

Outlining his approach to leadership at the time, Inaba said the Japanese company would strive to create titles that deliver “innovative forms of play.”

“Games come in all different styles for all different kinds of people. At their nature, they are a true expression of liberty: thoughts come together freely to create an idea, to expand upon it, and then, to actually play it,” wrote Inaba in a letter from the president.

“The real enjoyment from games comes from the freedom given to both the creator and user – which is why I believe them to be such an amazing form of entertainment. Approaching ‘fun’ with complete sincerity has always been important to me. I believe every one of our staff take pride that they are entertainers, always attempting the perfect balance between play and professionalism.”

Since then, Inaba has indicated the company also harbours live service ambitions, explaining the studio hopes to develop titles that can be “enjoyed and loved for a longer period of time” during an interview with Famitsu published in February.

Inaba, however, also clarified that Platinum will continue to work on “small but brilliantly conceived games” and standalone titles.