Astral Chain ‘is Nintendo’s IP’ says PlatinumGames

After the official Astral Chain website changed the copyright listing last week, PlatinumGames has confirmed longer the IP belongs to Nintendo.

The 2019 Nintendo Switch game was another well-received PlatinumGames title that was directed by Takahisa Taura, which we lauded as an action masterclass from the esteemed developer.

Platinum had stated before that Astral Chain was co-owned by itself and the game's publisher, Nintendo – though the latter held the game's publishing rights.

Now, in an interview with VGC, studio head Atsushi Inaba said the situation is “as it looks.”

“It’s as it is written on the website: Astral Chain is their IP and as such there are limitations on how much we feel we should talk about,” said the PlatinumGames developer.

What this means for the future of the series remains to be seen: we saw PlatinumGames gain control of The Wonderful 101 last year, leading to a Remastered version of the game launch on PC, PS4 and Switch, and the company has been making strides to position itself as a self-publishing studio.

The relationship between the two companies, then, has always been a bit strange. PlatinumGames had once suggested that Astral Chain could end up on other platforms, but now the rights to the IP have shifted into Nintendo's hands, that seems unlikely to happen.