Capcom management abandoned interest in new IP to force development of sequels, former Capcom head of development Keiji Inafune has alleged.
Studio bosses keen to cut costs opted for a policy of systemic sequelisation, Inafune claimed in an address at a Kyoto university (translated by Andriasang).
New titles - including Inafune's Dead Rising and Lost Planet - were initially rejected.
Within Capcom, the official line was an output consisting of 70 to 80 per cent sequels. But Inafune said the promised 20 per cent of budget to work on new franchises never materialised.
In practice any new idea pitched would be denied.
How did Inafune get around this? The Mega Man co-creator continued work on Lost Planet and Dead Rising despite management rejecting prototypes.
By spending over budget by as much as 400 per cent, Inafune hoped bosses would be forced to greenlight projects to recoup losses. The gamble paid off - Dead Rising and its sequel have sold millions of units.
If he had failed, Inafune suspected he would have been "fired for war crimes".
Inafune quit Capcom suddenly last October after seeing Dead Rising 2 launch. He had devoted more than 23 years to the company.