Mighty No. 9's Keiji Inafune says all the game's problems are on him

Of course, developing for 10 platforms simultaneously may have been an issue as well.

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Mighty No. 9 has had a rocky launch to say the least, from lockups requires hard restarts to framerate issues and glitches. Even Sega mascot Sonic the Hedgehog was taking shots at the game. Developer Keiji Inafune didn't shy away from the criticism, saying that all the issues were on him.

"You know, I want to word this in a way to explain some of the issues that come with trying to make a game of this size on multiple platforms," Inafune said via translator Ben Judd during a Twitch stream (via Eurogamer). "I'm kind of loath to say this because it's going to sound like an excuse and I don't want to make any excuses. I own all the problems that came with this game and if you want to hurl insults at me, it's totally my fault. I'm the key creator. I will own that responsibility."

Judd offered plenty of defense for Inafune on his own. "I've seen a lot of different comments that suggested Inafune-san was only focused on being a businessman and taking the IP and making anime or manga or branching off into a lot of different directions," he said. "To your average everyday person, it's going to seem that way. But the reality is, during production, the key creative pieces really happen for the first 70 per cent and then beyond that, it's all about doing porting and bug testing. I promise you Inafune-san's time is best spent focused on taking this IP in new directions. Again, as I said, to be an independent studio and get a chance to own your IP, it just doesn't happen. It does bring in other opportunities, which is great. I guarantee you [that] you want your independent creators and developers to have their IP, you want them to be able to take them in different directions. It gives you more choices as gamers. I 100% stand by this sentiment.

Inafune's studio Comcept is also working on ReCore, which was shown by Microsoft at E3 this year. The review scores for the game have been languishing between 50-56 depending on platform, with users giving it about  a 3, according to Metacritic. The game came out yesterday on PC, Mac, Linux, PS3, PS4, Vita, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, and Nintendo 3DS.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    June 22, 2016 7:35 AM

    John Keefer posted a new article, Mighty No. 9's Keiji Inafune says all the game's problems are on him

    • reply
      June 22, 2016 9:42 AM

      "Of course, developing for 10 platforms simultaneously may have been an issue as well."

      Lol

    • reply
      June 22, 2016 10:12 AM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        June 22, 2016 12:06 PM

        absolutely. I remember when the kickstarter was happening, and they kept adding stretch goals ad infinitum, I was thinking "This isn't going to end well". I was just thinking about PC ports from major developers that have significant problems that are never resolved, including games from Ubisoft and EA. Then I see Inafune promising every platform under the sun, plus all these extraneous "bonus features", and it just didn't seem possible.

        And I'm glad Inafune is owning up to this, it gives me hope that he can come back into the industry and try to build trust again. But I think he needs to recognize the role his own greed played in this. He was totally putting the cart before the horse, trying to build a marketing empire out of nothing, just a few pieces on concept art and a bunch of money from Mega Man fans.

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