We were proud to welcome eleven new graduates into the PlatinumGames family on April 1. Here they are standing up in front of the entire company to introduce themselves! Talk about pressure…
We made sure to get their new careers got off to a running start. They’d barely been here a week before it was time for one of the greatest PlatinumGames traditions of all: Hanami!
Hanami, or “flower viewing,” is a popular spring pastime here in Japan. Every year, when the cherry blossoms are in bloom, we head out to nearby Osaka Castle for a Platinum-sized picnic. Unfortunately, a lot of the blossoms had fallen off the trees in a storm the day before – but it still made for a lovely day in the park with lovely scenery…
Osaka Castle remains one of the most popular of Osaka’s many hanami destinations.

… and lovely company.

Oh, did we mention there’s booze? PG character modeler and sake connoisseur Minoru Kasai (second from left) treats curious staffers to a tasting of his favorites every year. It’s become a PlatinumGames tradition in its own right!

Our newest employees – with some support from last year’s recruits – made sure nobody went hungry (or thirsty). They headed over before everyone else to make sure everything was set up perfectly, and stayed behind to clean up, too. Between hanami, their upcoming official welcome party, and oh yeah, all their day-to-day work, our new recruits really dived in to the company head-first. Thanks for all your hard work, and welcome to PlatinumGames!