Keiji Inafune reveals Capcom insider gossip

The former head of development at Capcom has claimed that the publisher and developer previously instituted a de facto policy of nothing but sequels, which Keiji Infaune had to circumvent at the risk of his position.

According to a Famitsu.com report, translated by Andriasang, Inafune's revelations came from a lecture at a Japanese film school. There he revealed that at the end of the PlayStation 2 era of consoles Capcom had a rule that required that 70 to 80 per cent of new titles must be sequels.

Inafune claims that in practise, "any suggestion for a new title would not receive approval". This apparently included his original pitches for Lost Planet and Dead Rising, but Infaune ignored his management and continued developing the games despite their rejection.

He then purposefully exceeded the game's prototype budget, correctly assuming that management would believe that having spent so much money there was no choice but to continue development into a full product.

Both gamers were much more successful in the West than in Japan, but Inafune characterised the sales of 2 million copies overseas to 200,000 in Japan as the "correct" proportion.

In his last years and months with Capcom, Infaune's relationship with the company had become increasingly antagonistic - as he repeatedly criticised Capcom's own titles and the Japanese games industry in general.

After leaving Capcom he announced the founding of two new companies, although no new games have been announced thus far. However, as part of his lecture Inafune insisted that Japanese developers should be thinking more of the Asian, and particularly Chinese, markets - which may give a hint as to his future plans.