Hideki Kamiya Biography – 5 fast Facts You Need To Know About Him

Quick Facts

Hideki Kamiya is a renowned video game developer and designer of Japanese origin. He had a highly successful stint working for a number of video game companies including Clover Studio, a subsidiary of Capcom after which he went on to launch his own video game company PlatinumGames.

At Capcom, Kamiya was the planner of the highly successful 1996 video game Resident Evil, the first of the Resident Evil franchise. He took on the role of a director during the production of its sequel Resident Evil 2. The Resident Evil franchise has evolved to include several other sequels and it is the most successful media franchise by Capcom.

Hideki Kamiya equally has the following video game franchises to his credit – Bayonetta, Devil May Cry and Wonderful 101. In 2006, Hideki Kamiya founded PlatinumGames alongside a few former Capcom employees.

Hideki Kamiya Biography

Hideki Kamiya was born on December 19, 1970, in Nagano, Japan. He was initially drawn to gaming because of the digital sounds; the beeps and blips produced by the gaming gadgets.

At a pretty young age, Kamiya started playing games at video games arcades. However, when video game companies started putting out their own home consoles, his parents still didn’t allow him to own one. Therefore he resorted to visiting an older boy in their neighbourhood to play on his console.

The young Kamiya eventually got his own console during his early years in high school. He also acquired a personal computer to study programming but rather than study, he spent all his time playing his favourite games. Due to this, he had little time for his studies and eventually failed his first high school entrance exam.

Kamiya picked interest in creating video games after reading a magazine interview which featured game creator Masanobu Endo-san. He was so inspired by the game developer that he resolved to tow the same career path.

Upon graduation from college, he relocated to his hometown in search of a job. He also applied at several video game companies but he was turned down by a number of companies. He eventually got offers from 2 video game companies; Namco and Capcom. At Namco, he was offered the position of an artist rather than that of a designer and therefore he chose Capcom where he was offered the position of a game designer.

Kamiya joined Capcom in 1994 and he was the planner of the first instalment of the Resident Evil video game series. The talented game creator also took on the role of the director during the production of the sequel Resident Evil 2 (1998). The initial version of the sequel tagged Resident Evil 1.5 was cancelled when it was about 70% complete.

While at Capcom, Kamiya was also the director for the Devil May Cry action-adventure game which was released in 2001 for PlayStation 2. Devil May Cry started out as the 4th entry in the Resident Evil series, however, it differed too much from preceding instalments and so the developers decided to make it an independent game. However, Kamiya did not take part in the creation of its sequel Devil May Cry 2.

Under the auspices of Clover Studio, the talented game creator equally directed the development of the adventure game Ōkami (2006). Clover Studio was closed down by Capcom a few months after the game’s initial release.

5 Fast Facts You Need To Know About Him

1. Resident Evil

While at Capcom, Hideki Kamiya played the role of planner for the 1996 video game Resident Evil, the first in the highly successful Resident Evil series. Kamiya subsequently led a 50-man group which developed Resident Evil 2. The game was well-received and is widely acclaimed to be one of the best video games of all times. Resident Evil 2 is also the most successful of the Resident Evil series on the PlayStation platform.

2. PlatinumGames

Hideki Kamiya founded his own video game company in 2006 alongside Shinji Mikami and Atsushi Inaba, who were his former colleagues at Capcom. It was founded under the name Seeds, Inc. on August 1, 2006. The company was renamed PlatinumGames in October 2007 after a merger of the original company with Odd Inc.

3. Bayonetta

At PlatinumGames, Kamiya directed the creation of the action game Bayonetta. Bayonetta was released in Japan in October 2009 and in other parts of the world in January 2010. It’s sequel Bayonetta 2 was released in 2014. It’s animated film adaptation Bayonetta: Bloody Fate was released in Japan in November 2013. At PlatinumGames, Kamiya also directed the creation of The Wonderful 101 (2013).

4. Hideki Kamiya loves to create only new ideas

He is undoubtedly one of the most original creative directors in the world of game development. However, fans are displeased with the fact that he doesn’t get involved in developing sequels to his initial creations. In his defence, Kamiya is of the opinion that his talent and position are better suited for developing fresh and unique ideas rather than revisiting old ones.

5. Hideki Kamiya has a badass online personality

The famed game creator is also known for his no-nonsense persona on the internet. Since joining Twitter in February 2010, Hideki Kamiya has accumulated over 180,000 followers. However, he is notorious for his incredibly blunt remarks and his highly irritable online personality. His clap-backs are epic and he has little tolerance for internet trolls. He is usually very quick to block any fan who gets on his nerves in any way.

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