Keiji Inafune, one of the original creators of Mega Man and Capcom's top game developer, is resigning his post.
"Capcom is truly a good company," wrote Inafune on his blog Friday (translated by Andriasang). "I love Capcom. Probably more than anyone in the world. However, it's not always the case that your hopes are realized. Just as it was with the girlfriend I loved long ago."
Inafune's departure follows a string of controversial appearances and remarks during Tokyo Game Show at which the celebrated designer had harsh words for his fellow Japanese game designers, repeating the sentiment that Japan is "losing" to Western development.
More significantly for Capcom, the departure of Inafune represents the final shedding of its superstar game designers. Street Fighter II producer Yoshiki Okamoto bailed out in 2003. Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil), Atsushi Inaba (Viewtiful Joe, Okami) and Hideki Kamiya (Devil May Cry) left in 2007.
We would not exactly be shocked if Inafune starts his own small production studio, as seems to be the norm for fleeing Japanese game producers these days. He said in his blog post that he would not work with Capcom on any future projects.
Image: Wired.com
