Keiji Inafune and the new era of gaming

EDITOR'S NOTEfrom Eduardo Moutinho

I'm always intrigued when I see gaming legends break out into the wilderness of independent development. It takes a lot of courage and conviction to make such decisions. This only leaves me more excited to see the ideas that emerge from their newly unshackled creativity.

After 23 years of service, Keiji Inafune left Capcom in 2010. Since then, he's commented on the declining health of the Japanese gaming industry -- one that he helped create many years ago.

The icon also launched his own studio, Comcept, and recently, he announced his first game as an independent developer. The Island of Dr. Momo, which might end up being the most adorable game ever, tasks you with creating the cutest thing in the world. This free-to-play experience features micro transactions and will be released on mobile platforms.

The creator of Mega Man and producer of other popular titles like Resident Evil 4 is now dipping his toes into “freemium” content, and I think it's a good move. This is a man who disagrees with the current philosophy of mainstream game development in Japan, criticizing it for becoming too focused on the almighty yen. Inafune's new venture allows him to work in a more intimate environment where he can truly create.

Other big names in the business have been doing this for a while. Tim Schafer and Double Fine dedicated themselves to smaller projects after producing Brutal Legend. Sid Meier released Civilization as a Facebook application.

The gaming landscape is changing. While we all love the big-budget releases that come out during the holidays, very few people can honestly say that, with the exception of a few titles, quality has improved. The experiences are shorter, more stagnant, and simplified to make things accessible to all audiences.

Inafune's latest endeavor isn’t a concern because I know the same passion and talent that went into the Mega Man series will live on through his upcoming projects, and I probably won't have to pay $60 to enjoy each of them.

Tags: civilization, Brutal Legend, Mega Man, Resident Evil 4, Double Fine, Civilization World, The Island of Dr. Momo

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Joël Foucault

July 26, 2011

I don't like big budget games as well. On the Japanese side, FFXIII was just a big non-event. It's a non-event because nothing actually happens in the game. It's just a show of cool people enjoying cool lives and saving the world with all their over-the-top coolness. MGS4 was the worst game in the series in my opinion. I sincerely hope for more interesting Japanese titles like Tales of Vesperia, MGS 1, 2 and 3 and Rogue Galaxy. Good news though, we'll get The Last Guardian which seems to be a game worth spending time on. I'm just afraid, as you say, that we'll see fewer of this kind of titles in the future. The damage caused by the Call of Duty business model in the gaming industry still needs to be assessed. It's a good thing contenders like Battlefield 3 create hype by innovation, and not just sheer advertising (and not that CODs are essentially bad games, but that their business model doesn't lean on the innovative side).