End of an era: Keiji Inafune leaves Capcom
posted:
11/1/2010 8:57:00 AM
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The man often labeled as the father of Mega Man, Keiji Inafune, has resigned from his position as Head of Research and Development at Capcom. Inafune-san announced his resignation to the public through a blog posting on October 29. The translation of the resignation post from the blog reads as follows:
"this is my last entry as company president. I entered the company as a character designer and 23 years passed in an instant. As a developer, I've reached the top at Capcom. There are no more stairs to climb. Capcom is a really good company. I love Capcom, and that's no lie. It might be the best [company] in the world. I'm not saying I'll make games until I die. However, I want to continue making games. Just not at my present position."
It has been no secret that Inafune-san has been unhappy with the company for quite a while now. Ever since taking over the position of global R&D for the company, he has been vocal about his concerns and criticisms with the company’s lack of support for its games created outside of Japan. He has also been very outspoken regarding his position that Japanese game developers were “behind Western developers in innovation”. This past April, at the Capcom Captivate event, the opening speech that Inafune gave to the guests focused heavily on his goal(s) of making Capcom a truly global company... though he also spoke on his fears of fighting an uphill battle to reach that goal
Effective today, November 1, 2010, Jun Takeuchi will assume the position that Inafune has held at the top of Capcom’s executive board. While I have no doubt that Capcom can and will continue on in its tradition of making quality games, Inafune-san’s influence will undoubtedly be noticeably absent in their future en devours... he will be sorely missed.
"this is my last entry as company president. I entered the company as a character designer and 23 years passed in an instant. As a developer, I've reached the top at Capcom. There are no more stairs to climb. Capcom is a really good company. I love Capcom, and that's no lie. It might be the best [company] in the world. I'm not saying I'll make games until I die. However, I want to continue making games. Just not at my present position."
It has been no secret that Inafune-san has been unhappy with the company for quite a while now. Ever since taking over the position of global R&D for the company, he has been vocal about his concerns and criticisms with the company’s lack of support for its games created outside of Japan. He has also been very outspoken regarding his position that Japanese game developers were “behind Western developers in innovation”. This past April, at the Capcom Captivate event, the opening speech that Inafune gave to the guests focused heavily on his goal(s) of making Capcom a truly global company... though he also spoke on his fears of fighting an uphill battle to reach that goal
Effective today, November 1, 2010, Jun Takeuchi will assume the position that Inafune has held at the top of Capcom’s executive board. While I have no doubt that Capcom can and will continue on in its tradition of making quality games, Inafune-san’s influence will undoubtedly be noticeably absent in their future en devours... he will be sorely missed.
