Atsushi Inaba interview: Clover after Capcom

In light of the end of Capcom‘s Clover Studio, the studio responsible for games like Okami, Godhand, and (the Clover Game handheld people experienced) Viewtiful Joe, Gamasutra was able to get an interview with Atsuhi Inaba, the Clover head.

The interview is not really that recent (dated last TGS) but in it is a very interesting bit that should balance out the “electronic games are getting stagnant” sentiment that is moving around “the intarweb.” Well maybe not balance out, but it should be a good cookie for discussion board people to chew on.

At some point in the interview Gamasutra asked Inaba what he thinks is the reason that Capcom seems so invigorated. Of course they meant “invigorated” in the sense that after years of rehashes and updates, Capcom releases “fresh” games.

Inaba’s response was such:

I don’t really know myself! That’s hard to say… after all, the games that came out in the last two years were made in the last five years – so I’m not sure if you’ll feel that way about games coming out in the next two years that are being made now by the Capcom of today. It’s a hard question to answer. The way we move staff around, how we structure our teams, how we manage all of that, has been really revised over the last few years at Capcom, so you may be seeing the results of that effort now in the games. It’s definitely made development easier for us.

We’ve put into bold the interesting bit. We are guessing that a lot of people who are quick to complain stagnation, forget to factor that we really have no idea what “innovative” games the developers have under wraps at the moment. So perhaps the countless versions of “Something vs. Capcom,” are just there to fund risky projects like Okami. Inaba did mention that he started out in Capcom thinking he would be making a Resident Evil game but after some shuffling around, the Resident Evil he was working on turned into Devil May Cry.

As with gaming, people are quick to say that the PSP is experiencing a form of comatose. Some are even quick to say that the handheld has “failed”. Sales number might not be comforting but, still, the PS3 might change things, and a new game or homebrew that we still aren’t aware of might be in the works.

Anyway, back to Capcom, with regards to what Inaba has said, do you guys think that the way Capcom is acting today contributes to the development of “innovative” games five years down the line? Are the handheld makers doing the same?

Via Gamasutra

In light of the end of Capcom‘s Clover Studio, the studio responsible for games like Okami, Godhand, and (the Clover Game handheld people experienced) Viewtiful Joe, Gamasutra was able to get an interview with Atsuhi Inaba, the Clover head.

The interview is not really that recent (dated last TGS) but in it is a very interesting bit that should balance out the “electronic games are getting stagnant” sentiment that is moving around “the intarweb.” Well maybe not balance out, but it should be a good cookie for discussion board people to chew on.

At some point in the interview Gamasutra asked Inaba what he thinks is the reason that Capcom seems so invigorated. Of course they meant “invigorated” in the sense that after years of rehashes and updates, Capcom releases “fresh” games.

Inaba’s response was such:

I don’t really know myself! That’s hard to say… after all, the games that came out in the last two years were made in the last five years – so I’m not sure if you’ll feel that way about games coming out in the next two years that are being made now by the Capcom of today. It’s a hard question to answer. The way we move staff around, how we structure our teams, how we manage all of that, has been really revised over the last few years at Capcom, so you may be seeing the results of that effort now in the games. It’s definitely made development easier for us.

We’ve put into bold the interesting bit. We are guessing that a lot of people who are quick to complain stagnation, forget to factor that we really have no idea what “innovative” games the developers have under wraps at the moment. So perhaps the countless versions of “Something vs. Capcom,” are just there to fund risky projects like Okami. Inaba did mention that he started out in Capcom thinking he would be making a Resident Evil game but after some shuffling around, the Resident Evil he was working on turned into Devil May Cry.

As with gaming, people are quick to say that the PSP is experiencing a form of comatose. Some are even quick to say that the handheld has “failed”. Sales number might not be comforting but, still, the PS3 might change things, and a new game or homebrew that we still aren’t aware of might be in the works.

Anyway, back to Capcom, with regards to what Inaba has said, do you guys think that the way Capcom is acting today contributes to the development of “innovative” games five years down the line? Are the handheld makers doing the same?

Via Gamasutra