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Kenji Inafune leaves Capcom

Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 2:19 pm
by Kaito-kun
The creator of Megaman, Kenji Inafune has announced on his blog that he is leaving Capcom, the company he has worked with for 23 years.

Article:
Develop wrote: Keiji Inafune, long-standing Capcom producer and the famed mind behind the studio’s most prolific character Mega Man, has announced his resignation from the company on his personal blog.


The post, entitled simply "Sayonara", explains the reasons behind Inafune’s decision, due to take effect at the end of the month, and rounds off on a difficult period for the producer as evidenced by a recent expression of unhappiness with his job.


"A manager's work means evaluating your subordinates and speaking your dreams. Anyone who can do both of those can be a manager. I thought that when I came here, and I still think that now,” Inafune writes.
But Inafune – whose official title at Capcom had been head of R&D management group, consumer games R&D division and contents management division – claimed he did not believe he could achieve both of those goals any more.


Inafune most recently served as executive producer on the zombie-bashing sequel Dead Rising 2, and was set to serve in the same role on Ninja Theory’s already contentious Devil May Cry prequel DmC.


His time at Capcom will almost certainly be best remembered for the creation of the Mega Man franchise back in 1987, when Inafune was working as a character designer for the studio.





Expanding on the reasons for his decision, and his plans for the future, Inafune seems keen for a fresh start in his life. "There's nowhere higher for me to go,” he writes "I'm leaving Capcom with the intention of starting my life over. People that really know me, can see where I'm coming from. I'm not a regular dude. It's probably because I'm strange." Inafune states he will not be taking a break from the industry, despite recent comments that he believes Japanese development is “finished”.
Source.

This is kind of sad, but I'm not completely surprised; he's been dissatisfied with the way the Japanese games industry has been working fora number of years now, I wouldn't be surprised if he's planning on moving to a western developer.

Thoughts? Worried about the new Megaman Legends 3 or Megaman Universe?

Posted: Fri Oct 29, 2010 10:33 pm
by Gavvie
I wouldn't be too surprised if the negative reaction to DmC has forced his hand a little. Granted, you should never judge a book by it's cover (Dante's redesign), but he might feel a little put out by the knee-jerk reaction.

I'd expect him to head West, can't see him staying in Japan.

Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 4:58 am
by Option
He's still going to be in charge of the 2 Megaman games, don't worry.

Nevertheless, I thought that Inafune stated he would leave Capcom a looooong time ago, and in the end he didn't. In fact, I thought he was gone for good before I suddenly heard he still was working for Capcom, so I was like "Wait what? Didn't he announce he was leaving?". Yea, it doesn't surprise me. =P

Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 7:04 am
by TF73
I think Capcom have sort of lost it's edge lately. So perhaps it's a good move for both him and Capcom. Younger more "hungry" people will take over with new ideas and inspiration. And perhaps he will feel like that again if he should set up his own studio.

Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 9:18 am
by richarddavies
This has been coming for awhile. He's been bad mouthing gaming and Capcom in particular over the last few months. To be honest if he kept it up they probably would've dropped him if he didn't leave anyway.

Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 7:51 pm
by derkasan
The question is, why did he build up all of this hype over his baby Mega Man Legends 3, and then drop it before it even reached beta?

The mind boggles...

Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 9:02 pm
by Reknoc
The guy clearly hated his job, by the fact he said so himself. He did alot of great things for Capcom even with his last effort to ruin DMC.

Anyway Jun Ta..tak.. the guy who ruined Resident Evil is taking his spot... brilliant.
Gavvie wrote:Granted, you should never judge a book by it's cover (Dante's redesign), but he might feel a little put out by the knee-jerk reaction.
No but I can judge one by its author and if the author is known for awful spelling, grammar and just generally shitty storytelling and was asked to write the next Lord of the Rings or whatthefuckever I'd be pretty pissed off about that aswell.

The awful redesign is just puke icing on the turd cake.

Edit: Having his design come last in the legend 3 comp probably didn't improve his mood, it was pretty shit but not nearly as bad the winner and the great injustice that umbrella dress didn't win.

Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2010 5:50 am
by Option
Reknoc is back! =D

Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2010 12:56 pm
by Gonic
They guy will be missed. He did a lot of great things for capcom and gave us megaman :)

Posted: Sun Oct 31, 2010 12:56 pm
by Reknoc
Option wrote:Reknoc is back! =D
I hope you voted for Umbrella Skirt Girl.
Gonic wrote:They guy will be missed. He did a lot of great things for capcom and gave us megaman :)
He also did some awful things. And quite possibly went abit mental considering some of the nonsense he said. "Lost Planet 2 bombed because it didn't have snow"