Hideki Kamiya, head of the new-established Clovers Studio, has played down the impression that the company is only going to focus on sequels in wake of news that it’s working on a follow-up to Okami.
Speaking with GameSpark, Kamiya-san, who directed classics such as Resident Evil 2 and went on to serve at PlatinumGames over his long career, was quizzed alongside Clover Studios’ Kento Koyama about the company’s relationship with exiting IP.
In response, Koyama-san said that the developer “will not close off any possibilities when it comes to making games,” and that when considering its next project, it’s open to making a sequel to an existing brand or developing a brand new IP. “Basically, I don’t think that we limited the methods we use in our approach to our policy of creating interesting games,” he said.
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Meanwhile, Kamiya also shared his co-workers sentiments that Clovers Studio is open to any kind of project, noting the won’t “close off any possibilities” as long as they “get a ‘wow’ feeling” from whatever project they’re involved with.
If we were asked to make a game that uses an existing IP, and if it looked like it would be interesting to ‘Cloverize’ it in our own way, then we would do it. But of course, if we get a project proposal that we really want to work on, and the desire to go it grows, then we’ll do an original work too. So I think it’s appropriate to say we won’t close off any possibilities – in the end, it all comes down to whether or not we get a ‘wow’ feeling from it.
We’re only working on one thing at the moment, and it just so happens that it’s an IP I was involved with in the past, so I think it’s inevitable that that impression is strong. The fact that we’re attracting attention because of that expectation is something we’re grateful for, but I want to reiterate that just because this is our first shot, it doesn’t mean that this is all we have to offer.
Clovers Studio was announced to be working on the Okami sequel at The Game Awards 2024 last December, although a release date hasn’t been confirmed at this point. One thing we do know is that the sequel will be powered by Capcom’s RE Engine, which has been used in many titles over the years such as Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Resident Evil 4 Remake, and Monster Hunter Wilds.