Capcom originally rejected plans for Dead Rising and Lost Planet, the company’s former Global Head of Production Keiji Inafune has revealed.
Speaking during a seminar at Kyoto’s Ritsumeikan University (via Andriasang), Inafune – who left Capcom in October 2010 – laid bare some of his former employer’s juiciest secrets, revealing the Japanese giant was particularly apprehensive in regards to churning out new IP.
Apparently, Capcom bosses had set a rule in motion whereby 70-80 percent of games developed had to be sequels to existing franchises, while the remaining 20 percent was channelled into new games. Even so, Inafune noted that the majority of ideas for new ventures were not approved.
Unsurprisingly, both Dead Rising and Lost Planet were turned down, but this didn’t deter Infaune; instead, the Mega Man legend simply carried on making them in a move that he feels “saved the company.”
In particular, Inafune noted that Lost Planet exceeded its prototype budget by over 400 percent, ultimately forcing Capcom bigwigs to give its production the green light.
The game designer admitted that he was prepared to be “fired for war crimes” had both games failed, though ultimately, this wasn’t the case – Dead Rising and Lost Planet sold in their millions, and did wonders for Capcom’s earnings and stock price.
After leaving Capcom, Inafune went on to found Intercept and Comcept, describing the former as a game production company and his “new challenge for consumer game development.”