PlatinumGames co-founder criticizes Nintendo Switch home menu’s poor design

By Aaron Mamiit January 4, 2020

PlatinumGames co-founder Hideki Kamiya, who holds a reputation for being brash with his opinions, criticized the home menu of the Nintendo Switch.

The Nintendo Switch, which took less than a year to surpass the sales of its predecessor, the Wii U, is on track to become one of the company’s most successful consoles. However, it has not been immune to issues, such as the controversial Joy-Con drift that has also affected the Nintendo Switch Lite.

Kamiya, known for his work as a director on games such as Bayonetta, Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry, and Viewtiful Joe, has a problem with another aspect of the Nintendo Switch — the design of its home menu.

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

In a series of tweets, Kamiya expressed his frustrations with the Nintendo Switch home menu, particularly how all of the games installed in the console are lined up in a row with no way to sort the icons into folders. The menu is only capable of displaying 12 games at a time, with the rest hidden in an All Games section.

Kamiya also called out the sale section of the Nintendo Switch eShop, as there is no way to sort the games to make it easier to browse through them or discover titles.

Twitter users are agreeing with Kamiya, but it remains to be seen if Nintendo will listen to the criticism and finally roll out a revamped home menu and eShop for the Nintendo Switch. An update to improve the user interface for the console might not be a priority, but with Kamiya being a prominent figure in the industry, Nintendo might be forced to finally do something about the complaints.

Kamiya likely grew frustrated with the console’s home menu while working on Bayonetta 3, which was announced in The Game Awards 2017. Not much has been revealed about the Nintendo Switch exclusive, causing concern among fans of the Umbra Witch.

In early 2019, Nintendo of America’s senior product marketing manager Bill Trinen clarified that Bayonetta 3 was still in the works. While the game was not released within 2019, as speculated, Kamiya said on Twitter that its development is “on track,” without revealing a launch window for the highly anticipated game.

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Bayonetta holds a magical device in Bayonetta 3.

PlatinumGames, the developer behind critically acclaimed action games such as Bayonetta 3 and NieR: Automata, has announced that one of its co-founders and frequent game directors, Hideki Kamiya, will leave the company in October.

Hideki Kamiya originally made a name for himself directing games like Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, and Okami for Capcom. After Capcom closed down the Clover Studio subsidiary he worked at in 2006, he went on to co-found PlatinumGames with Resident Evil and God Hand creator Shinji Mikami and Capcom producer Atsushi Inaba. Kamiya had stuck with the company through its ups and downs ever since, directing every game in the Bayonetta series, The Wonderful 101, and more. He was currently directing a game codenamed Project G.G.; the state of that game now that he's leaving PlatinumGames is unknown.
"We regret to announce that Hideki Kamiya will be leaving PlatinumGames on October 12, 2023," PlatinumGames tweeted earlier this morning. "We are truly grateful for his creative ideas, leadership, and contribution to the growth of PlatinumGames from our start-up to this very day. We believe that he will continue to succeed in his future endeavors as a game creator. We are looking forward to seeing the game industry grow into a better place with him in it. We wish him all the best for the future!"
https://twitter.com/platinumgames/status/1706201875564130785
Kamiya confirmed this message on his personal X account, stating the following: "As announced on the official PlatinumGames X account, I will be leaving PlatinumGames on October 12, 2023. This came after a lot of consideration based on my own beliefs. and was by no means an easy decision to make. However, I feel this outcome is for the best. I will continue to create in my Hideki Kamiya way. I hope you'll keep your eyes peeled."

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