Keiji Inafune Leaves Capcom

[DoctorFinger]

After nearly a quarter of a century, Mega Man creator and head of consumer R&D Keiji Inafune is leaving Capcom. A translation of Inafune's goodbye blog post, courtesy Kotaku.

"There's nowhere higher for me to go. I'm leaving Capcom with the intention of starting my life over", he adds. Inafune says he's looking for his next challenge and will not be taking a break.

In addition to his work designing and developing the Mega Man & Breath of Fire series, Inafune has overseen much of Capcom's output in the last 15 years, including the Resident Evil and Dead Rising series. Earlier this year Capcom placed Inafune in charge of all of their western game development efforts.

Inafune had become something of a controversial figure in Japan of late thanks to some harsh criticisms he had levied against the Japanese game development culture. He recently said that Japanese developers are five years behind the West, and declaring the industry in his native country "finished." Inafune didn't say what his next move would be, only that he's not taking a break.

Source - Inafune's Blog; Kotaku

[kyrieee]

I suspect he'll be back

[TrackZero]

A few interviews with different Japanese devs lately speak to this. Apparently in Japan, as the dev, you hit a career cap where they won't let you move into the business side at all because you're not one of "them" to begin with. Essentially fucking over people who actually make products versus those who smile and shake hands. Good for Inafune, fuck the elitists.

[Mike Kelehan]

Whatever he makes next, I'll take one.

Hey, maybe he should join Platinum? That's where Capcom's all stars tend to end up.

[Kelegacy]

Platinum/Clover would be great. Or maybe Bethesda's new studio that they just acquired.

[Exodus]

You know a mega man game with bayonetta/vanquish style control would be pretty fucking awesome...of course he can't take the IP with him...oh well there's always vanquish 2.

[Urizen]

What an ass.

It's almost like he sabotaged Capcom. They put him in charge of Western development, he lays out a vision and five-year plan, Capcom begins implementing his plan, and he walks away.

[ElektroDragon]

He walked away because his Westernization yielded almost nothing but crap like Bionic Commando, and stupid restrictive time limit games like Dead Rising and to a lesser extent Lost Planet. Good riddance, I say. Get some new blood in there.

[TrackZero]

Originally Posted by ElektroDragon

He walked away because his Westernization yielded almost nothing but crap like Bionic Commando, and stupid restrictive time limit games like Dead Rising and to a lesser extent Lost Planet. Good riddance, I say. Get some new blood in there.

He didn't do Bionic Commando, he only green-lit the project. Dead Rising and Lost Planet are enjoyable (not in any way perfect) titles that have garnered more endearment for Capcom for attempting to make games for an international audience instead of the by-the-book crap most Japanese publishers put out. There's also no way for you to view the process involved in either of those series development, what constraints were forced on his teams to still appeal to Japanese gamers over everyone else. So pinning it all on him is just troll FUD.

[AgtFox]

Originally Posted by ElektroDragon

He walked away because his Westernization yielded almost nothing but crap like Bionic Commando, and stupid restrictive time limit games like Dead Rising and to a lesser extent Lost Planet. Good riddance, I say. Get some new blood in there.

I personally liked Bionic Commando. If you've played the game and that is the opinion you're giving I can respect it. However, if you haven't played the game and are only going on what you've heard from people (who may or may not have played it) then I can't respect the opinion. If you can make it past the first few hours there's something really special there (you could say the same thing about the recently released Castlevania game).

I do like Dead Rising 2 a lot better than the original. I wouldn't say the restrictive time limit is stupid in the game. If you think about the overall storyline, the time limit really fits it well. The beauty about the game is you can restart it at any time and do things differently the next time with the same level character you ended with. Even though you are restricted by time, you do have plenty of time to do everything if you want...it's really up to you how to complete the game. It is like many open world games (which also sometimes have time limits on picking of missions).

For Lost Planet, I wasn't a huge fan of the original and I never tried the second game because of that, so I can't really offer an opinion on that one.

Plus the man made Mega Man, an iconic character for Capcom for over 20 years.

[ElektroDragon]

Must you accuse me of trolling every time I say something controversial or unpopular? What the hell, I thought we were above this here, or has some of that EvAv attitude come along for the ride? Tell me where I'm wrong, fine. But don't resort to name calling and accusations. See AgtFox's post, he did it right.

[Gorvi]

I'm probably one of the few who really hasn't been impressed by Capcom this generation. Hopefully he lands somewhere beneficial, he did create some iconic series/characters.

[TrackZero]

Originally Posted by ElektroDragon

Must you accuse me of trolling every time I say something controversial or unpopular?

No, but only if you're backing it up with facts. In this case you put bad information as your reason to hate on him. I'm all for hate, so long as it's pointed at the right spot.

Originally Posted by ElektroDragon

What the hell, I thought we were above this here, or has some of that EvAv attitude come along for the ride? Tell me where I'm wrong, fine. But don't resort to name calling and accusations. See AgtFox's post, he did it right.

I just call it like I see it man, I think I've been on the internet long enough to know troll'in when I see it. Heck, I've been known to do it myself on occasion. At any rate, just consider this an outsiders viewpoint on what they've seen on your posting of late. I'm not picking you out of the crowd for shits and giggles. Consider it constructive criticism.

[Panthera]

Originally Posted by ElektroDragon

Must you accuse me of trolling every time I say something controversial or unpopular? What the hell, I thought we were above this here, or has some of that EvAv attitude come along for the ride? Tell me where I'm wrong, fine. But don't resort to name calling and accusations. See AgtFox's post, he did it right.

I'm not sure you know what trolling means.

[Kelegacy]

Bionic Commando was great, so shut it!!!

I still have the game, I liked it a lot.

[Mike Kelehan]

Originally Posted by Exodus

You know a mega man game with bayonetta/vanquish style control would be pretty fucking awesome...of course he can't take the IP with him...oh well there's always vanquish 2.

Hideki Kamiya couldn't take Devil May Cry with him, so he made Bayonetta, which was just better in every way. He could make a new series that plays like Mega Man and has similar characters, but doesn't infringe.

[Orca]

Originally Posted by ElektroDragon

Must you accuse me of trolling every time I say something controversial or unpopular?

Well it kind of is trolling when you say a game is crap and have never played it.

[Widgetcraft]

Originally Posted by Panthera

I'm not sure you know what trolling means.

Do you think he is saying that stuff just to provoke a reaction? If so, he is trolling. If those are his legitimate opinions, he isn't trolling, regardless of how you feel about his opinions and whether or not they're legitimate. It is just that simple.

Also: He mad. I'd be mad too if I worked hard to get a game approved, and then my character design comes in last place (out of nine) in a vote by the fans, while third place goes to what may or may not be a trap.

[ElektroDragon]

Originally Posted by Heretic Machine

Do you think he is saying that stuff just to provoke a reaction? If so, he is trolling.

Exactly, I'm not trying to rile anyone up. I am just posting unusual (maybe stupid to you) opinions without backing them up with evidence. You need to back up claimed facts with evidence, not opinions.

As for never playing Bionic Commando, I wanted to give it a chance. I bought the game at BB for $10, but before opening it, I decided to check the reviews again. Every single one I read was so overwhelmingly negative, that I returned the game to BB without even trying it. I did try the demo when it originally came out though, and was not impressed. But I figured, for $10, how bad could it be? The 100% negative reviews convinced me otherwise. I did play plenty of Lost Planet and Dead Rising though. Enough to know I don't really care for Capcom's Westernization. And I'm also pissed at them for re-releasing "Super" versions of every bloody thing a year later.

[Darkmatter]

Ya the guy who made 3rd place is obviously a lolicon fan.