Lead designer on the Mega Man series Keiji Inafune has for a while been forever critical of the Japanese gaming scene, believing that the country is falling behind other international developers in the modern industry. 

In a interview with GameSpot this weekend the Capcom Exec continued to believe that Japan will not be changing in a hurry,

He claims, “Ultimately, it’s probably gotten worse than when I was talking about it before…and that’s a shame. But there are options out there. And there are many options that Japanese independent developers can pursue to gain more control, to own their own IP, etc cetera.”

Inafune has followed through on these comments with events such as Kickstarter. At PAX Prime Inafune moved to fund a campaign known as Mighty No.9, which has been seen as strong spiritual successor to the Mega Man series.

Many fans may turn to support Inafune’s move to independent companies and IP’s as Capcom has struggled to hold the support of the Mega Man audience with both Mega Man Universe and Mega Man Legends being cancelled soon after Inafune’s departure.

With the Mighty No. 9 project hitting it’s project goal of, $900,000 since the weekend, the rabid support from the Inafune fan base does not seem to be going anywhere soon.

With many of Capcom’s projects, such as Lost Planet 3, struggling to make sales in the UK or internationally, it seems Keiji Inafune may not be wrong about Japans decline.

What do you think of Keiji Inafune’s stance?

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