It was hinted at, and here it is! Iwata Asks not just about a game, but an entire company. PlatinumGames already has two!!! exclusives in development for the Wii U (The Wonderful 101, Bayonetta 2) so there is clearly some kind of positive relationship happening between the two companies at the moment.

Iwata Asks: PlatinumGames

Hopefully this close relationship continues into the future.

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Cool stuff!

Posted by

kriswright

on: 01/25/13, 04:53

Inaba Right. I felt like I had become a wizard, and it was awesome. I was at that company for about three years, but not once did I think the work was hard. Around that time, I'd get to work (at) about seven in the morning, go to eat curry or (a) beef bowl at about midnight, work again until about two or three in the morning, have a late night snack, go home, and go to work again the next morning at seven. That lifestyle was a lot of fun.

That's insane. Working 19-20 hours a day just to go home, get a few hours of sleep, and do it all over again?!

Posted by

Zero

on: 01/25/13, 05:00

Is there any chance Platinum could go full second party? Seems like the two companies are good buddies these days.

Although, they aren't putting the Madworld sequel on Wii U, so... hmm.

Posted by

Chocobo_Rider

on: 01/25/13, 09:23

@Zero

Such is the life of a developer during the crunch before release. The balancing out is a more lethargic work pace at other times, a nice long holiday once the game ships and the pleasure of (hopefully) working on something you are really proud of.

@NinSage

Maybe at some point but I think their A-team was working on Metal Gear Revengeance for the last few years and that has no plans to come to Wii U. It's possible, but I wouldn't bet that it happens any time soon. The exception of course is if Nintendo were to buy a controlling interest in the company but I don't see why they would do that when they have them doing a couple exclusive games already.

Posted by

Stephen

on: 01/25/13, 10:19

Edited:

01/25/13, 10:23

@Stephen

Yes, true.

Posted by

Chocobo_Rider

on: 01/25/13, 10:46

@Stephen Yeah, but it sounds like that was just his day to day work schedule for 3 years, crunch or not. Hmm, and I don't think they have a single "A-team", they have a lot of big name producer/directors and they all make some pretty key stuff.

One interesting thing to note is that their first 5 games were published by Sega, and their upcoming 3 games are being published by Konami (1) and Nintendo (2). I wonder how Sega feels about this. Platinum stuff might not sell a ton, but having them under your umbrella has to be good for your image.

Posted by

Zero

on: 01/25/13, 17:35

Edited:

01/25/13, 17:39

Yeah, from what I understand, in Japan, that is not crunch time. It's most days.

Posted by

Guillaume

on: 01/25/13, 17:38

Or at EA without getting paid for your overtime, AMIRITE?

Posted by

Zero

on: 01/25/13, 17:40

Doesn't sound that much different from the average person in their mid 20's to me. Except he apparently survived doing it long-term with minimal brain damage.

Posted by

VickiL

on: 01/25/13, 18:02

I think anyone working that much is getting exploited, pure and simple. And is bad at his or her job because of this irrational belief of his or her employer that longer work days are better. Studies show that shorter work days are VASTLY more productive.

Posted by

Guillaume

on: 01/25/13, 18:13

@VickiL Really?! I had pretty bad habits in my 20s but even I tried to get 6-7 hours of sleep a night. And do lots of things that weren't work.

Posted by

Zero

on: 01/25/13, 18:16

I think I'm mostly remember college days, not the first job. And I'll have to admit that while the days were long, so were the lunch breaks. I wonder if people in Japan worked like that before the US influences on them after World War 2.

Regarding what you said earlier, Zero, wasn't Sega in some financial difficulties late last year? I figured that was why they said there wouldn't be a Bayonetta 2 if Nintendo hadn't stepped up. It looks like Sega got enough cash together to buy Relic in that fire sale, though, so I don't know.

Posted by

VickiL

on: 01/25/13, 19:12

Guillaume said:

Yeah, from what I understand, in Japan, that is not crunch time. It's most days.

Yeah, that whole industry seems insane. I'd like to see a study of quality/quantity of work with respect to hours worked per week.

Guillaume said:

I think anyone working that much is getting exploited, pure and simple. And is bad at his or her job because of this irrational belief of his or her employer that longer work days are better. Studies show that shorter work days are VASTLY more productive.

Hey, link that study!

Posted by

Anand

on: 01/28/13, 20:39

Edited:

01/28/13, 20:40

@Anand I don't know about the study, but I'll say this... I used to work 6 hours a day, now 8, and I'm pretty sure that I still approach each day trying to accomplish about the same amount of stuff. I just find more ways to slack in my 8 hour days.

Posted by

Zero

on: 01/28/13, 21:27

Well, working 6 vs. 8 hours is one thing, but working 8 vs. 16 is probably another.

But, yeah. In general, I think the whole 40 hour/week system is kind of bullshit. Everything should be task-based, rather than time-based. Why punish the efficient?

Posted by

Anand

on: 01/28/13, 21:41

Edited:

01/28/13, 21:42

@Anand That's the thing, the expectations at my job are all task-based, but the pay is not. So if I'm getting my stuff done and people are happy with my output, and I know that doing more isn't going to lead to anything but a pat on the back, what is my incentive to do more? I'm not there to get good vibes, I'm there to get a paycheck.

That's when I slack.

Posted by

Zero

on: 01/28/13, 22:06

Well, in Minami's case here, the guy sounds like a workaholic... that he enjoys the long hours, is truly passionate about what he is doing, and you couldn't have stopped him even if you wanted. Looks like it got him places.


But such long hours on mundane or unfulfilling jobs is a different story and very sad. Here is a documentary about the poor working class in Japan and the effect that such a lifestyle has on a person:

Posted by

Hinph

on: 01/28/13, 22:38

@Zero
Even worse, instead of (or in addition to) that pat on the back, an efficient worker just gets more work (i.e. more of everyone else's shit).

Posted by

Anand

on: 01/29/13, 00:00

Edited:

01/29/13, 00:00

@Anand

Lou and I used to work at a telemarketing thing doing mostly business-to-business phone surveys. We were always so much quicker than the other people, that we'd routinely rank higher in "Completes" than others, and we'd run out of "sample" before the top of the hour many times. And other times, we'd rip through it so quickly that we'd finish a project before the week was up, and we'd "earn" Thursday and Friday off......without pay.

Hmm.

Posted by

Mr_Mustache

on: 01/29/13, 01:18

@Anand Yeah I used to work at RPS stacking trucks. They put me on the busiest truck every day. I got it done super quick. So they put me on the busiest truck and the one next to it. Still got it done quick. So then I had two trucks AND became a sort of "floater" who had to go around and help people who were behind on their one truck.

Did I get any more money than the other people who couldn't keep up with a single truck? Nope.

Did I get back problems that made me quit within a few months and are still with me to this day? Yep.

There is a moral in there somewhere.

Posted by

Zero

on: 01/29/13, 01:33