Former NieR: Automata designer and director of Astral Chain, Takahisa Taura, has officially left PlatinumGames and will be founding a new game company called Eel Game Studio. It had been speculated since last year that Taura had left PlatinumGames, after he removed all references to his former employer from his X account and also changed his place of work on his public Facebook page. Now, he has officially acknowledged his departure and also confirmed he has created his own game studio.
According to Genki on X (who translated the original Japanese text from the latest issue of Famitsu), Taura officially confirmed his departure from PlatinumGames and his status as a founding member of the new company, Eel Game Studio (via VGC). He also said that he cannot share much else at the moment.
Taura originally joined the NieR: Automata team thanks to his long desire to see a sequel to the original game, which got a remaster called NieR Replicant in 2021 with some gameplay updates. Automata was Taura's first RPG title, and he managed the game's combat design. He also drew inspiration from Castlevania for the 2D side-scrolling sections of the game. Taura served as the director for 2019's...
