We kind of like this new Keiji Inafune. Even as a Capcom employee he was fearless – see his “Japan is done, Japan is over” statement for proof of that – but now that he’s left the company to work on his own projects, he’s becoming even more outspoken. This time, in an interview at 1up, he’s attacking Japanese developers for not taking downloadable titles seriously enough.
“I think that one of the issues is that creators, the top-notch high-profile game creators, don’t seem to want to do digital download titles because they’re an afterthought, like it’s below them,” claimed Inafune.
“The real ‘rockstar’ Japanese game creators are only going to do more expensive packaged products and a lot of times, even if the idea internally is to do a complimentary digital download game that goes with a packaged product, it’s kind of a hassle to try and spend some of your team and resources on a digital download when you want to keep them focused all on the main project at hand.”
Strangely enough, one of the most successful downloadable experiments on Xbox LIVE was developed by Inafune’s former employer, Capcom – Dead Rising: Case Zero. And we can think of a number of Japan-based developers creating top notch downloadable titles – Q Games for example.
That said – it is a solid point, and a point made by someone with extensive experience in the Japanese industry. Who probably knows a bit better than us!
Not Quite Finished: Keiji Inafune’s Bold New Plan For Japan [1up]
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