Hideki Kamiya's "artistic spirit would die" had he stayed at Platinum Games

Plus the meaning behind new Okami studio Clovers.

Hideki Kamiya has stated if he'd continued working for Platinum Games his "artistic spirit [would] die".

The former Platinum vice-president has launched a new studio with another former Platinum employee, Kaneto Koyama, as discussed in a new interview with Japanese outlet denfaminicogamer.

The pair have set up Clovers, which will develop a sequel to the much-loved Okami, originally developed by Kamiya at Clover Studio.

"This is purely my personal opinion, but I thought, 'If I continue working here, my artistic spirit will die'," said Kamiya on his reasons for leaving Platinum last year (via machine translation).

"I can understand the way PlatinumGames is as a company and its logic, and I was in the position of vice president myself, but as an individual named Hideki Kamiya, I was unable to embrace that way of thinking."

As vice president, Kamiya was "field-first" at Platinum Games - he described himself as the muscle and CEO Atsushi Inaba as the brains.

"The signals sent from the cerebrum are essential for muscles," Kamiya continued. "At the same time, those signals must be reliable for muscles. Until then, I had received those signals, trusted them, and worked to maximize my own strength...but with regards to the future direction of Platinum with Inaba at the helm, I was no longer able to place my trust in them and exert my strength as a muscle."

Kamiya has been quite vocal about his decision to leave Platinum Games, previously stating there were issues of "trust".

He then launched a YouTube channel where he discussed his next project. "I already have a clear idea in mind," he said. "I would like to translate this vision in my head into a full proposal as soon as I am able to do so. And of course, I also have an idea of what I can do to make the project a reality. But if you ask me specifically what kind of game it will be, all I can say at this stage is, 'It'll be a Hideki Kamiya game'."

It's unclear if that project is the new Okami sequel, announced as in-development at this year's The Game Awards last week.

Teaser artwork for the Okami sequel | Image credit: Clovers

In this new interview, Kamiya and Koyama explained the Clovers name of the new studio. It's been interpreted as "C lovers", with four Cs relating to the four leaves of a clover.

Only three Cs are set in stone though: challenge, creativity, and craftsmanship. The fourth C is for employees to decide upon themselves.

In a previous interview, Kamiya stated Okami's sales were a "huge failure" and that had the game been more successful Clover Studio probably would have continued.

Little is known about the new Okami game, beyond the above teaser image.