Keiji Inafune of Mega-Man and Dead Rising fame made no secret that he hated his job. Late last week, the game designer finally left Capcom, a company he worked at for 23 years. The developer's Osaka headquarters says why.
"Due to the sudden upheaval in the market, it seemed necessary to drastically reform our game development structure," Capcom stated at a recent financial meeting. "During restructuring preparations, Inafune made a request to continue working in the role of a game creator."
According to Capcom, the company accepted his request. By doing so, this meant Inafune would be continuing as a game designer instead of a game exec. While at Capcom, he worked as the head of research and development.
Inafune wanted to create his own subsidiary-type company so he could have a more hands-on approach to game development. Capcom passed on this proposal, resulting in him leaving the company.
In much of his recent 4Gamer.net interview, Inafune discussed how lazy developers are — even going as far to compare the Japanese industry to a communist country. He also mentioned how execs do not seem interested in creating games. That, of course, is not unique to Japan.
Capcom USA's comments regarding Inafune's departure can be read here.
2011年3月期第2四半期決算説明会 質疑応答概要 [Capcom]