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Keiji Inafune – the veteran Capcom designer responsible for some of the publisher’s most iconic brands – has been promoted to a new role overlooking the firm’s global output.
The Mega Man creator raised eyebrows at last year’s Tokyo Game Show by openly stating that “Japan is dead” as a modern game development region.
Now Inafune has a chance to demonstrate Capcom’s supremacy on the global stage as, according to a Kotaku report, the Western-facing producer has become global head of production.
"It’s a common comment I hear that games created in Europe aren’t really Capcom games, that games created in Japan are true Capcom games,” said Inafune.
"I want to put an end to that, basically saying that whether games are created in America or Japan or anywhere in the world, I will be the one overlooking it and so it will have that Capcom flavour that fans know and love."
Inafune’s recent work at Capcom has seen him take roles as executive producer on projects such as Street Fighter 4, Bionic Commando, Dead Rising 2 and Dark Void. The latter three of those games were developed in Europe and the US, while the former – Street Fighter 4 – is a brand burrowed deep into the Western consumer conscience.
“Those of you who know me, know how serious I am about trying to make global games on a global scale especially thinking about America and Europe when designing a lot of our titles," added Inafune.
"I’ve been pushing really hard for the last several years to try and gear our games in that direction."
