‘Bayonetta 2’ Director Leaves Platinum Games After 13 Years

By Stefanie Fogel

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – “Bayonetta 2” game director and “Bayonetta” producer Yusuke Hashimoto is leaving Platinum Games after 13 years, he announced in a tweet on Thursday.

“This tweet will be a little more personal than usual. Yesterday, January 31st, was my last day at PlatinumGames,” he said. “The memories I made during my 13 years at Platinum, working with dozens of talented individuals on ‘Bayonetta,’ ‘Bayonetta 2,’ and ‘Star Fox Zero,’ are priceless to me. Let me take this opportunity to share my thanks with anyone who has worked with me, supported me, or played my games.”

Although Hashimoto didn’t say what his next project will be, he said he hopes to take the experiences he gained at Platinum and use them on whatever he works on in the future.

is currently “hard at work” on the Switch-exclusive “Bayonetta 3,” Nintendo said during its February 2019 Direct earlier this week. The studio first revealed the game’s existence at The Game Awards 2017. It’s not known at this time what role, if any, Hashimoto had in the development of the game, or what his absence means for the project.

Platinum is also currently working on a new action game called ” Astral Chain .” Takahisa Taura, known for his work on “NieR: Automata,” is directing the cyberpunk title under the supervision of “Bayonetta” creator Hideki Kamiya. Manga artist Masakazu Katsura (“ZETMAN,” “Video Girl Ai”) is providing character designs. The game is currently expected to launch exclusively on Nintendo Switch on Aug. 30.