At the tail end of a 1400-word diatribe detailing the myriad failures of the Japanese game industry, former Capcom all-star Keiji Inafune (who else?) gave us the first big hint about what he's going to be working on next. We know about his two new companies -- the multi-faceted Comcept and the game development house Intercept -- but what has been less clear is what kind of games he's going to make. As the creator of games like Mega Man and Dead Rising, Inafune is clearly able to appeal to Western tastes, so it's a bit surprising that he's not necessarily courting Western audiences.
We suppose it makes sense; for all this praise of Western game development, Inafune feels like competing there would be too difficult with a new company. "It may be too late - or too hard - to tackle the US market at this point," he writes. So instead of tackling the top spot, Inafune is looking towards the future. What's next? "The next big market is China. There I see many opportunities. My sights are on Asia," he concludes, wrapping up his essay.
Maybe this is selfish of us, but you've got to look out for number one, right? Here's the thing: We don't live in China, so we don't see any way to read this without acknowledging that Inafune won't be making games for us anymore. Is this because we said mean things about Lost Planet 2?
Reader Comments (31)
Posted: Jun 30th 2011 11:34AM Icemael said
Keiji Inafune did not create Mega Man.
Posted: Jun 30th 2011 12:59PM Icemael said
@cypherigon: No he didn't. He only worked as a character designer, and Mega Man's basic design was already done when he joined Capcom.
All he did was MINOR work on Mega Man's look, and presumably enemy and boss designs. He did not design the levels. He did not design the music. He did not design backgrounds, enemy behaviour or character abilities.
Calling him "the creator of games like Mega Man" is ludicrous and stupid.
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All he did was MINOR work on Mega Man's look, and presumably enemy and boss designs. He did not design the levels. He did not design the music. He did not design backgrounds, enemy behaviour or character abilities.
Calling him "the creator of games like Mega Man" is ludicrous and stupid.
Posted: Jun 30th 2011 1:12PM GuardianLegend said
@Icemael
Yeah and he also didn't create Dead Rising. Or any respectable game from what I can tell.
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Yeah and he also didn't create Dead Rising. Or any respectable game from what I can tell.
Posted: Jun 30th 2011 11:36AM sammo21 said
He has a problem with the JP game industry but loves the idea of fostering the nation who is known for making literal knock offs of every other project?
Posted: Jun 30th 2011 1:16PM GuardianLegend said
@sammo21
I'm not sure how to read your comment. Chinese game developers already worked on Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (a sequel), Dead Space 2 (also a sequel) and the latest Alice game was 100% made in China (also a sequel). The thing is... all three games are IPs that originated in Canada or America. I don't see a big difference between sequels and knock offs, so... what's the big deal?
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I'm not sure how to read your comment. Chinese game developers already worked on Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (a sequel), Dead Space 2 (also a sequel) and the latest Alice game was 100% made in China (also a sequel). The thing is... all three games are IPs that originated in Canada or America. I don't see a big difference between sequels and knock offs, so... what's the big deal?
Posted: Jun 30th 2011 4:33PM GuardianLegend said
@Tihn
There's something weird about a guy who teaches in China for a year then "jokes" about using the military to invade them. You must've had a bad experience there. What happened?
There's also something weird about a guy who says "Capcom will sh** on your face and balls" and who is also a teacher too.
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There's something weird about a guy who teaches in China for a year then "jokes" about using the military to invade them. You must've had a bad experience there. What happened?
There's also something weird about a guy who says "Capcom will sh** on your face and balls" and who is also a teacher too.
Posted: Jun 30th 2011 11:37AM Cleric said
I'm pretty down on the japanese game industry after this whole NoA thing
Posted: Jun 30th 2011 11:40AM CaptainProtonX said
I wish he could have warned us about the shit path Capcom would be taking with DRM.
I'm thinking the next Capcom project won't even load until we log onto a secure website to activate a seriel key, then install the game locally, then be in an "always connected state".
The industry is always looking out for number 1. I don't see it selfish for an individual to do the same.
I'm thinking the next Capcom project won't even load until we log onto a secure website to activate a seriel key, then install the game locally, then be in an "always connected state".
The industry is always looking out for number 1. I don't see it selfish for an individual to do the same.
Posted: Jun 30th 2011 11:59AM Tihn said
@CaptainProtonX
But to get that key you need to buy the Day 0 DLC (a paid demo) and to also buy the unlock single player key.
Be glad you're not buying a second hand game because game shops have to inform Capcom who will then come to your house and **** on your face and balls.
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But to get that key you need to buy the Day 0 DLC (a paid demo) and to also buy the unlock single player key.
Be glad you're not buying a second hand game because game shops have to inform Capcom who will then come to your house and **** on your face and balls.
Posted: Jun 30th 2011 12:16PM Fire Walk With Me said
@CaptainProtonX I'd have to care about the next Capcom project for that to take effect. I'm done with them and wont be missing anything.
very few japanese developers are worth watching any longer.
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very few japanese developers are worth watching any longer.
Posted: Jun 30th 2011 12:27PM Tihn said
And as much as Capcom suck now. Monster Hunter Freedom is really great. I don't understand why they haven't butchered that game up. It's £7.99 here in shops and there's loads of DLC, all free too.
Posted: Jun 30th 2011 12:32PM (Unverified) said
So MMO's, RTS's, etc.?
Posted: Jun 30th 2011 1:09PM GuardianLegend said
Inafune did not create Dead Rising. He was producer. Yoshinori Kawano was director. If you look at all the games Inafune has been producer on, the games are so wildly different that it's clear that Inafune had little to do with the core design of the games.
Dead Rising, Bionic Commando, Dark Void, Lost Planet 2, Onimusha. None of these games were designed by Inafune, only produced. And Megaman apparently had character design work from Inafune, but it would be foolish to declare Inafune the creator of Megaman when the Megaman games were/are about a lot more than its character design.
Dead Rising, Bionic Commando, Dark Void, Lost Planet 2, Onimusha. None of these games were designed by Inafune, only produced. And Megaman apparently had character design work from Inafune, but it would be foolish to declare Inafune the creator of Megaman when the Megaman games were/are about a lot more than its character design.
Posted: Jun 30th 2011 2:23PM Undying said
I hope he likes micro transactions, cause thats the only way he will make any money off them, but you just know they will rip off whatever game he makes, and sell it for less.
China is a dead market for anyone in the entertainment industry.
China is a dead market for anyone in the entertainment industry.
Posted: Jun 30th 2011 2:24PM DietSoap said
To be honest, I'm kind of glad. The more Capcom has gunned for the US market, the less colorful, less visually distinct, more cliche, and all around slower and easier their games have become... Seriously, what's with the US's obsession for nonathletic characters who max out their running speed at 2 mph anyways?
Sure, I'd say they still have a leg up on the competition in all those measures, but to see what use to be far and way my favorite developer fall even as much as it has is just heart breaking.
Sure, I'd say they still have a leg up on the competition in all those measures, but to see what use to be far and way my favorite developer fall even as much as it has is just heart breaking.
Posted: Jun 30th 2011 2:44PM (Unverified) said
The Chinese market has many of the same issues that the Japanese market has. I do not see how he can bitch about Japan and then say that China is any better.
You can compete with the West, but you will only be able to do so in the handheld (iOS/Android) market. Asian developers on the whole have shown in recent years that they just can't compete with boxed games.
Japan would still be on top of their game if it wasn't for PC developers swooping onto this console generation and showing gamers what a truly polished, fun-to-play game really is. Seriously, go play something like Shadows of the Damned and then play Gears of War 2. Shadows of the Damned has absolutely no polish to it at all.
You can compete with the West, but you will only be able to do so in the handheld (iOS/Android) market. Asian developers on the whole have shown in recent years that they just can't compete with boxed games.
Japan would still be on top of their game if it wasn't for PC developers swooping onto this console generation and showing gamers what a truly polished, fun-to-play game really is. Seriously, go play something like Shadows of the Damned and then play Gears of War 2. Shadows of the Damned has absolutely no polish to it at all.
Posted: Jun 30th 2011 3:42PM corna said
@(Unverified)
I don't get what you're trying to say. We've known what a "truly polished, fun-to-play game" really is for decades (both on consoles and PCs). The problem with a lot of Japanese developers is that they're making games for portables. The problem's not that they don't know how to make fun-to-play games. They just haven't been able to cope with the tech. As for Shadows of the Damned, I haven't played it, but if it really "has absolutely no polish to it at all," that's a problem specific to Grasshopper Manufature (No More Heroes is their high point of "polish" -- and it's not very "polished").
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I don't get what you're trying to say. We've known what a "truly polished, fun-to-play game" really is for decades (both on consoles and PCs). The problem with a lot of Japanese developers is that they're making games for portables. The problem's not that they don't know how to make fun-to-play games. They just haven't been able to cope with the tech. As for Shadows of the Damned, I haven't played it, but if it really "has absolutely no polish to it at all," that's a problem specific to Grasshopper Manufature (No More Heroes is their high point of "polish" -- and it's not very "polished").
Posted: Jun 30th 2011 3:33PM adr916 said
he's a boss no matter what
Posted: Jun 30th 2011 5:28PM eilegz said
china? its he serious... i dont think its a good market for gamers, maybe for pc gaming like mmo or fps but thats all....
Posted: Jun 30th 2011 5:46PM GuardianLegend said
@eilegz
i read that the 360/ps3/wii are not sold in China too. I don't understand how that makes sense though. They are all made in china. And a lot of the AAA games by EA and Ubisoft are partially made in China too.
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i read that the 360/ps3/wii are not sold in China too. I don't understand how that makes sense though. They are all made in china. And a lot of the AAA games by EA and Ubisoft are partially made in China too.
Posted: Jul 1st 2011 11:13AM sigma8 said
@GuardianLegend
In China, you can hire 4 people for the price of 1 American software developer.. But none of them can afford what you're making. Thus, you make it there, and sell it here. That is how exploitation works.
You could always sell your product in China for 75% off, but most people there will pirate it anyway, so what's the point? Just take advantage of the cheap labor, and then worry about enforcing legality in countries that have legal systems that will actually help you.
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In China, you can hire 4 people for the price of 1 American software developer.. But none of them can afford what you're making. Thus, you make it there, and sell it here. That is how exploitation works.
You could always sell your product in China for 75% off, but most people there will pirate it anyway, so what's the point? Just take advantage of the cheap labor, and then worry about enforcing legality in countries that have legal systems that will actually help you.
Posted: Jul 1st 2011 2:52PM GuardianLegend said
@sigma8
hmm makes sense. Maybe console games will need to go to the microtransaction model too, like all the PC games seem to be doing
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hmm makes sense. Maybe console games will need to go to the microtransaction model too, like all the PC games seem to be doing
Posted: Jul 1st 2011 7:26AM stalepie said
You should learn Chinese! He's right. Definitely the #1 country in the world now. There is so much future in that country that it is unbelievable.







