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Capcom Talks Global Vision, Appoints U.S. Representative
Last Wednesday at Captivate 2010 in Honolulu, Hawaii, Keiji Inafune, creator of Mega Man and Capcom’s head of R&D and online business, shared some important news about the company with the assembled crowd of journalists, diehard fans, and others. Inafune emphasized that Capcom is not a company that sees a barrier between its Japanese and foreign-based development teams. The father of the Blue Bomber himself, along with a newly appointed counterpart, will be overlooking all future Capcom titles to ensure they deserve the seal of quality the gold and blue logo represents.
“Those of you who have heard me before know how serious I am about trying to make games that are competitive on a global scale,” said Inafune. “I’ve been pushing very hard over the last several years trying to gear our games more in that direction.
“In a glimpse, what it was like at Capcom is that there were several studios, several teams and they didn’t have a unified direction previously. What I’ve done over the past few years is sort of unify that vision of the style."
Inafune went on to explain that over the past few years since he became head of U.S. production department and R&D he has gradually begun to oversee all Capcom development worldwide. Because of the broadening of his responsibilities and ambition, Inafune’s new title is global head of production.
“It’s a constant comment that I see, that basically games created in America aren’t really Capcom games and games created in Japan are true Capcom games,” Inafune lamented. “I want to put an end to that.” Inafune then promised that regardless of where Capcom games are developed, all will be unified by a shared vision of quality. He’s going to need help, though.
“Unfortunately, I am unable to multiply myself and be in several places at once,” Inafune admitted. He explained that despite several yearly trips to the U.S., he can’t manage things day-to-day, and that’s why he needs a “mouthpiece” in the States. Shinji Futami is the man for the job.
“Futami-san has been in the game industry for more than 20 years. I have known him for more than 10. We share the same philosophies, the same ideas, the same dealings about game design, so I feel he’s the perfect man for the job to be able to convey my sensibilities to the Western market.”
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