In a talk with students at Ritsumeikan University, former Capcom executive Keiji Inafune explained some the company’s development processes. As reported by Famitsu (via Andriasang), Inafune revealed to students how he broke the rules to get some of Capcom’s newest brands created.
Prior to the development of Dead Rising and Lost Planet, Capcom’s management became very concerned with risks. Rules were dictated requiring 70 to 80 percent of titles in development to be sequels, but in practice most new development pitches were rejected. Inafune brought Dead Rising and Lost Planet to Capcom, but was summarily rejected. In response, he continued development on the projects.
Inafune believe that if the prototypes developed for each project exceeded a certain amount, management would be unable to cancel the games due to the amount of money already spent. Lost Planet’s prototype exceeded its original test budget by 400 percent. He was correct and management allowed both games to proceed to retail, where they were a success.
Inafune also mentioned Western markets as a major area of importance for Japanese developers. Lost Planet, Dead Rising, and Street Fighter IV sold 2 million units overseas, and 200,000 units in Japan. He believes this ratio to e correct, pointing to the market share of Japan compared to the rest of the world. Inafune does not believe that selling games to only the Japanese market is the way to success. He also explained that Asian markets like China should be considered moving forward.
Inafune recently founded two startup companies: Comcept and Intercept. Intercept is dedicated to developing brands for gaming, while Comcept has a broader range, focusing on books, manga, toys, and television.
