Hello again. PG president and CEO Kenichi Sato here again.

February 2nd is the day our company was founded and February 2nd, 2021 marks our 15 year anniversary.

PlatinumGames Inc. was founded in 2006, which was the year of the Torino Winter Olympics, the first World Baseball Classic, and in terms of gaming, the year that saw the release of the PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii during the holiday shopping season. There were no smartphones yet, just flip phones. Just writing this out makes it seem like it was such a long time ago! But honestly, it feels like it was only four or five years ago. Over the past 15 years, we’ve been able to release 14 titles, and this is thanks to the tireless efforts of everyone here at PlatinumGames and the many partnerships and relationships we’ve made along the way.

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When we first started the company, it goes without saying but no one knew who or what PlatinumGames was. Luckily, we were able to secure game projects through relationships in the game industry and the company began to swing into operation little by little. But even then, we were still virtual unknowns to the world at large. That would last until the titles we worked on were announced and eventually released. Of course, game companies become known because of their games, and not having any games released and known makes things that much harder.
For example, most people want to work for well-known companies, and not just for themselves, but often for the sake of family as well. That’s why we do our best to make sure we can convey what we’re all about and the passion that goes into what we do in our recruiting efforts. We’re very thankful from the bottom of our hearts for those who applied to PlatinumGames back when no one knew who we were and helped make us who we are!

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When we founded PlatinumGames, we decided that our goal would not be to make the company big. Of course it would be fine if it ended up that way, but we felt that focusing on that as a goal would stretch us too thin. The most important thing is the quality of the games, and to make sure a standard of quality is kept, it’s better not to get too big. That’s why our recruiting efforts emphasize quality over quantity.
Compared to when we first started, the number of employees is about four times as much as it was then, but not necessarily by design. Looking back, I believe we expanded as it became necessary, and did so carefully. As a result, more people have approached PlatinumGames and our recruiting efforts have become easier. In turn, we’ve become dedicated to providing those who join with fulfilling experiences that go above and beyond what they were expecting, and in the process we’ve been able to see our 15th year. Moving forward, we’ll continue to think about what we can to raise the quality of our games even more.

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As we mentioned last month, we also put energy into a variety of company events like our year-end party and our New Year ceremony. These events have also gotten more energized over 15 years! As people involved in the entertainment industry, we believe that company events should also be fun and that the company should provide a place for employees to do so. Of course, with the number of employees rising sometimes it’s not easy to find a place, but we’ll keep doing our best.
For better or worse, over the past year we’ve had to hold these events remote, but with Zoom we can easily do so with several hundred people, and without having to search for a big enough space. I’m still not sure whether or not to be happy about that.

And right now, I’m still thinking about what to do for the cherry blossom viewing in April…

Until next time!

Kenichi Sato President and CEO Kenichi Sato was born in Tokyo in 1962. Though he began working for Isetan Department Stores in 1986, he changed careers to work in the video games industry in 1996 when he joined Sega Enterprises (now Sega) as a member of the Dreamcast marketing team. In 2000 he was brought on board as a founding member and general manager at Cavia (now Marvelous). In 2006, Sato founded ODD Ltd., the company that would later become PlatinumGames. A key member of PlatinumGames from the very beginning, Sato stepped into the role of president and CEO in April 2016.