Every April, as the Japanese school year ends, we welcome a crop of fresh graduates to new careers at PlatinumGames. Though these new recruits become regular faces around the office right away, their official introduction comes a couple months later at our annual Welcome Party.

So who’s responsible for this celebration? The guests of honor are! That’s right, one of the earliest major duties the new grads have is planning and setting up their own welcome banquet. It turns out putting on a company-wide event is actually a great taste of the tasks and responsibilities in store for new employees. We’re proud to say this year’s hires passed with flying colors!

Speaking of flying colors, the stars of the show stood out in their bold, color-coded T-shirts. Here’s PG President and CEO Kenichi Sato starting things off with a toast.

After a few pleasantries, it was time for our newest employees to formally introduce themselves to the company. One by one, they got out on stage to make sure senpai noticed them. One new face – a trilingual Hong Kong native who’s also been writing for major game media sites – gave a presentation on games from around the world. Another – a former dietician – explained the differences between health drinks and energy drinks and provided advice on the proper uses of each one. (Hey, this is useful information when you’re a developer!).

Other presentations included celebrity impressions, a drag performance and a masterclass on how to properly cut and dress a fish. We have a welcome party every year, but they aren’t often this educational! Many senior staff members said they’d like to see the presentations again, in an environment a little more conducive to learning (and with a little less alcohol).

Eleven years since PlatinumGames was founded, we now boast a staff of nearly 200 people, covering a wide variety of fields and an even wider range of hobbies and interests. If there’s one thing we’ve learned from this year’s welcome party, it’s that so many of us are eager to share our unique knowledge if only given a moment in the spotlight. You never know where a new discovery may come from! We may have to consider more ways to let our staff share their true colors. A talent show, maybe? A down-home cook-off? Company Cosplay Day?

Who knows what we might have in store for the future? As it is now, though, the next company event we have planned is our semi-annual bowling tournament in October. It’s never too early to start practicing!