Developer Leaves Company, Makes 'Spiritual Successor' Of Their Famous Works


Goldsickle's avatar
It seems to be a trend or something nowadays.
Here are some examples:


- Hideki Kamiya leaves Capcom and creates Bayonetta, a spiritual successor to Devil May Cry, published by Sega.

- Keiji Inafune leaves Capcom and produces Mighty No. 9, a spiritual successor to Mega Man, via Kickstarter.

- Koji Igarashi leaves Konami and produces Bloodstained: Ritual Of The Night, a spiritual successor to Castlevania (particularly Symphony Of The Night), via Kickstarter.

- Former employees of Rare announces Yooka-Laylee, a spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie, which will make use of Kickstarter.

- Shinji Mikami leaves Capcom and creates The Evil Within, a spiritual successor to Resident Evil, published by Bethesda Softworks.



Are these developers simply doing what they enjoy most or dwelling on past glories?

What do you think?

I know game spiritual successors isn't something new but I'm specifically focusing on those made by former employees who make games similar to successful titles they did in their previous companies.
Comments60
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ShiroiKoumori's avatar
These people were shunned by their companies for making games that made the company famous. It is only appropriate for these creators to do what they do best and I'm sure they enjoy what they are doing. 
Go IGA!!! Show Konami what they are missing for focusing on mobile games!

i.imgur.com/a0QZwpP.gif
HerbalDrink's avatar
tbf Konami's kinda been doing things besides video games for awhile. Like those slot machines you see in places like Las Vegas or the Pachinko machines. They actually do quite a lot of those. 
ShiroiKoumori's avatar
Yeah I know about their profitable casino and card games arm but still, their video game IPs are sleeping or are reworked into other things.
Claarin's avatar
I still wish Hironobu Sakaguchi create 'spiritual successor' of Final Fantasy, latest FF series sucks, i'm not sure if XV could manage to make it better.
Goldsickle's avatar
Have you heard of "Last Story" by Sakaguchi?
Claarin's avatar
I heard about it, but i don't own wii.. ^^;
is it that good?
Goldsickle's avatar
I haven't played it either.
Realm-Of-The-Shadows's avatar
Hideo Kojima is technically no longer part of Konami now, I expect he will do something awesome in time
Goldsickle's avatar
I actually have confidence that he won't be like other people and make an obvious 'spiritual successor' to Metal Gear starring a spy and so on.

I hope he'll come up with something brand new, maybe a horror game that makes use of his penchant for breaking 4th walls.
With motion sensors, voice-recognition, mics and cameras, he can do so much.
Realm-Of-The-Shadows's avatar
in other words, blow us out of the water like developers SHOULD be doing
TheCunningCondor's avatar
Usually that's what an aspiring creative person would do when their publisher becomes too demanding or too focused on making money more than quality content. When a company hires you, and starts to see you more of a product than a person, it can deter you. And seeing as indie games are soaring in popularity thanks to nerds on Youtube, it's a good time for old game developers to get creative.
The-Albino-Axolotl's avatar
I know a table top game example. Jonson Bulmahn and Monte Cook left Wizards and created Pathfinder, a spiritual successor to D&D 3.5.
WallachianBard's avatar
These kind of developers : I LOVE THEM.

Let us try to forget the failure of Flagship and their Hellgate London. Although i am not sure if it was supposed to be a spiritual successor to Diablo, or a Diablo set in a post apocalyptic cyberpunk world?
Salem-the-Psychic's avatar
Doing what they love. Better then staying with the lazy companies that just want them to make COD clones.
AloisAgost's avatar
I'm leaning towards the idea that the creators just want to recapture the golden era, and I can't blame them.  Rare in particular is a prime example.  They released some of the greatest open world platform-explorers back in the N64 era with Donkey Kong 64, Banjo-Kazooie, Conker's Bad Fur Day, etc, only for Microsoft to later buy the company and release crap games like Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and a tasteless remake of Conker.  If I were a former Rare employee, I'd want to bail and recapture the glory days for the sake of my own pride as well as for other gamer's enjoyment.
Eraezr's avatar
It probably a matter of style and preference. Plus I'm sure they all had 'what if I had done this instead' when thinking about their previous titles and the limits their bosses must have placed. Give it more time, they might tentatively try something else.
Lady-Distracto's avatar
I think there's an element of "golden-age syndrome" at work here, but at the same time, perhaps these guys just wanted out of the constraints of big publishers to make the games they wanted to make?

Might be idealistic, but its a nice thought.
chesney's avatar
If I had to speculate, I'd say they're tired of seeing their visions ground up and spat out for profit.
Cenaris's avatar
Developers have gotten greedy and lazy. It's driven by mobile since mobile games are extremely popular in Japan, which is where all the names you mentioned work apart from Rare staff.

That said I don't want someone of immense talent and reputation like Kojima begging for money on a crowdfunding site like some kid wanting money to fund a poorly drawn webcomic.
HerbalDrink's avatar
tbf Konami does far more than mobile. 

They actually sell quite a bit of slot machines to casinos. 
Goldsickle's avatar
Hopefully, Kojima can start his own studio.

I don't know how the industry works but he'd still need a publisher?
Cenaris's avatar
He already has his own studio.

Any other publisher should be falling over themselves to publish his titles.
Goldsickle's avatar
But if I'm not wrong, Kojima Productions is a subsidiary of Konami, meaning that Konami owns Kojima Productions.

If Kojima leaves Konami, chances are that KojiPro will most likely be abolished.