It's been said that the key to success is who you know, not what you know. The importance of networking and establishing strong relationships is a universal truth, which explains why PlatinumGames' head thinks so highly of it.

Platinum CEO, Atsushi Inaba, recently spoke to VGC about the hiring of the company's new chief business officer, Takao Yamane. Before joining Platinum, Yamane spent more than 20 years with Nintendo.

According to Inaba, Yamane's history with Nintendo is crucial to PlatinumGames, saying:

Yamane didn’t leave Nintendo on bad terms at all and this partnership that we have with Nintendo is very important to us right now and will be moving forward. I think with Yamane-san joining us here, PlatinumGames can definitely build an even stronger relationship with Nintendo moving forward.

In the same interview, Inaba revealed that PlatinumGames still wants to work on live service games.

PlatinumGames and Square Enix found themselves the butt of jokes earlier this year after Babylon's Fall flopped at launch. The stylish action RPG had a player count of a little over a thousand when it came out. Things only got worse and Square Enix will now shut down the game's servers in February, less than a year after its release.

Unlike Microsoft and Sony, Nintendo isn't as keen on acquiring more studios. As a result, forging stronger relationships with the oldest video game company in the world is the best way to get in its good graces. This becomes especially important as Sony and Microsoft are making moves. The former just increased its ownership stake in FromSoftware while rumors claim the latter wants to acquire more Japanese studios.

PlatinumGames is scheduled to release Bayonetta 3 for the Nintendo Switch on the 28th.