That's a ball breaking accurate statement if there ever was one.
Although one thing I don't understand how did Capcom get there? I mean in Sega's case a foreign company (Sammy) took them over when Sega/CSK CEO Isao Okawa passed away.
I'm not sure how you can come to that conclusion on SEGA, in light of them still supporting money losing games (IE a followup to Valkyria Chronicles) or opting to invest in many more new IPs than any other Japanese publishers.
I was referring to the resignations associated with the mergers, as I am sure we've discussed in the past Mizuguchi wasn't the only one who tendered his resignation.
Kamiya was treated terribly in his last few years at Capcom, Okami was meant to be a three game title, but the board insisted he make it into one game, what Kamiya wanted in the end was never achieved. Then the problems with Inafune started, Onimusha 3 had Jean Reno in it simply for more "Western" appeal, it bombed so hard that series was left to rest, Kamiya and co could have stayed at Capcom, but he would no longer get the freedom that he wanted.
While I am in the dark about Onimusha and Infuane, I think making sure before hand that Okami is a single title affair was a sound decision as the game failed.
Frankly I do not see how you believe the group should have stuck at Capcom after they were effectively chucked out for being failures. Capcom were not about to work with them again, might as well start working at the developer who made you want to make games for some of those in that group.
Same way Suzuki et al have stuck around. Shenmue 2 didn't meet sales target and 3 wasn't greenlit Suzuki didn't leave AM2. He worked on Evolution, OutRun 2, Virtua Cop 3 and made sure the team was ready to continue without him and moved to his MMO studio. He poorly managed the studio and affiliates, dropped the ball figuratively. Same for all others Kodama failed with Altered Beast, Oba failed with Nightshade.
Yet they are all around, and I understand why they are around. They've spent there lives with the company decades upon decades, and I respect there commitment.
Capcom has suffered greatly after the talent left, and how is it the managements fault if there games weren't making enough return to warrant further investment?
Finally, Inafune began this whole project of having games developed outside of Japan
Really? Capcom has always developed games outside Japan Remember Capcom Production Studio# 8. I wasn't aware Infuane started the movement cause after Onimusha he moved on to Dead Rising.
And recent new franchises like Bionic Commando were helmed by Capcom's Ben Judd serving as executive producer, not infuane.
and at first it worked, but then the bubble burst and Bionic Commando, Dark Void and Lost Planet 2 all flopped terribly, it didn't help either that Inafune spoke out against the Capcom management in an interview sometime before his resignation, after they practically gave into his demand and outsourced all their development staff because it was mostly all his idea. Of course the board are not going to care anymore for him after that outburst.
He became more involved after recent failures most notably Bionic Commando, I remember reading an interview where he discussed (I am paraphrasing here) "from now only sequels will be developed with foreign studios and new ips in Japan, Orignal Capcom staff will also be involved to make them feel like true Capcom games" - I read this at Kotaku after Bionic Commando's failure. Earlier this year Kotaku interviewed him again and asked if the western dev will stop, and he said it is a company policy that won't change if he or anyone else says.
But the fact is, Inafune made many outlandish remarks. The reason Lost Planet 2 failed was it did not have any snow, that if a game does not have a male American lead, it will fail and the most comical of all, he believes himself to be a last samurai styled figure.
The Capcom management no longer cared about him because he was no longer useful and was actually doing damage to the company. Out with the trash as they say.
He started bad mouthed after his request for small scale affliated studio had been denied, I wasn't aware he spear headed the western dev focus. Capcom had Production Studio 8 way back and recent western games didn't have Infuane credited until recently.
Anyway thank you for your feedback, it was very insightful.
Edit: please excuse and typo's or grammar mistakes, I didn't have time to proof read this
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