Capcom's Inafune: Xbox was only way into overseas market

Capcom's Head of Research & Development Management Group and Online Business (breath) Keiji Inafune is all about the Western game market. In an internal interview on Capcom's website published earlier today, Inafune makes a variety of comments regarding Capcom's changing attitude with regards to the Western market. "I think I can only get away with saying this now, but I really thought that using the Xbox was the only way to break into overseas markets, and I took that hypothesis all the way," Inafune says in the piece, citing Lost Planet and Dead Rising as two prime examples of games targeted at Western audiences that were successful.

Speaking to the state of the video game industry and Capcom's relevance within it, he continues, "Up until now, we made games in Japan, and it was merely coincidental that those games sold overseas. But overseas game makers in regions like North America and Europe have gained strength, and it has become clear that this is the direction the game industry is going." We've heard statements like this before from MadWorld creator Atsushi Inaba, but never from such an influential and powerful figure~~head~~ within the Japanese development community. Considering the online multiplayer focus of the company's cadre of games both released and on the horizon, we think Capcom is putting its money where its mouth is.

Reader Comments (31)

Edited: off-topic.

Cover up her eyes and tell me she doesn't look like the Joker from any of the animated Batman series.

Thanks guys, you made me picture myself having sex with the Joker.

That smile... he won't stop laughing! Oh, the horror...

MY BROTHER!

OK, you edited the original post - which, if I recall correctly, made no Joker wisecrack - and then you edited MY post, but there was no modification of the comment I actually directed a response towards.

I'm not mad, but, what the fuck?

That chick-dude in the pic is off-topic! WTF is up with the unnecessary selective censorship?

Merely coincidental? How can such a brilliant person be such a moron?

Every game he's ever made on any platform has sold well in the west..

Do your bosses not show you the sales numbers of your games?

He knows that, and he's saying it was merely coincidence.

What he means is that they weren't developed specifically for the western market, but they still sold well in the west..

Of course, the reason they sold well is because they were simply good games.

But now, I think "targeting the west" by making pale imitations of certain games that happen to be popular here is pretty stupid.

Lost Planet starred some Japanese actor that I never heard of. So I guess it was direct at western audiences.

Korean.

Even better

This is the picture you should've used for your "Everyone's a little bit racist...sometimes" bit.

Congratulations to Inafune-san on making the right decision.

Damn, now your avatar...THERE'S A WOMAN!

Didn't Dead Rising release before the other consoles had launched? Also, if memory serves me correct Lost Planet launched around the same time the PS3 & Wii were released at retail. So, it actually does make sense that it was the way to the Western markets because it had an exclusive stranglehold at the time. I bought both of those games and loved them both so I can't complain about the strategy.

It still doesn't make complete sense. As others have already pointed out, Capcom has had great sales in NA, coicidental or not. He is saying he went with the Xbox and ran with it? How did he know the Xbox was going to be a success? The system had really only been out a year or so when DR/LP came out.

I understand what he was saying about targeting Western markets. But what does the Xbox have to do with it? Just because it was "out"? Because it was made in America?

I don't think he's saying that XBox was the _only_ way to reach the Western audience, but that the 360 would be a huge market in the West and it was better that they got into this market as well as the PS3/Wii markets.

Yes, but who knew the 360 would be the success that it is? Given the Xbox1's numbers, I personally would have stayed far away from the 360 initially and focused my 'Western debut' with the PS3 a year later. Remember this was also the time when people still thought the PS3 was gonna kick ass and take names right out of the gate.

Or he could have went the 50 million user install base in NA PS2 route. That seems like a way to cash in your western ideas. Wasn't LP being developed initially on the PS2 (or did I make that up :P)?

I still don't see his point about the 360. Yes, it all worked out well enough. But what if it didn't? What if the 360 did way less than it has? Would the comment still apply?

@deathxrebirth

Umm with the shitty development tools for the PS3 Lost Planet would not have debuted until 2007. A lot of folks still have the misconception that making a game for the PS3 is peanuts. Remember Killzone 2 was in development for what 4 years? Crazy development cycles if you ask me, and risky return on investment too. In order to justify 3-4 development cycle you need to sell at least 2 million copies!

This is Leigh Alexander.

She writes on her own blog http://sexyvideogameland.blogspot.com/, is a news director at Gamasutra. She also reviews for Variety, do a monthly column for Kotaku, and occasional other stuff like a bio says. She's a great journo IMO.

EDIT: Ding ding ding! Someone get this man a prize!

By "This is Leigh Alexander" I meant the girl with Inafune.

I agree: I don't think he could have meant that Xbox was the only way period, just the only way that was the most convenient earlier in this gen (one more advantage for the year's head start on Wii & PS3)

I want to see some source material on what the industry's opinion is of the difference between North American audiences and Japanese audiences.

Because the idea of making games "just for western gamers" is so offencive to me on a weird level. Do Westerners not understand the complex nuances and cultural significance of Super Mario Brothers? Or what?

it probably has less to do with mario and more with tentacle porn games

Capcom seems like the only Japanese developer besides Nintendo that knows what to do with the west

Damn, I can only take so many "westernized" games, they just don't have that quirk, that creativity that Japanese games (that AREN't JRPGs) have. I can see NoA slwly losing their minds as well. Well, looks like my gaming days will soon be over.

and all the speech about commitment with the multiplatform thing its BSHIT, thanks to tell us that you are more committed to microsoft than those fans of playstation 2 era that got the ps3 in hopes to get your games, instead we got the bones and anything less.

and the sad fact that ps3 version of the games sold more than x360 and of course ignoring the 100% profit on a unpirateble platform against a piracy friendly console like xbox360

dont worry i would get a x360 just to download capcom games.... so they dont receive a penny of me

Yeah, I don't want to get all Webster's on you Ben, but Inafune would be an influential and powerful FIGURE within the Japanese dev community, rather than a figurehead. In which case he would have neither influence nor power.

Hey cheer up, my name's Ben too.

EDIT: Correctamundo! My bad! Fixed.

Cheers!

Capcom's Inafune: Xbox was only way into overseas market

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