Industry legend Keiji Inafune left Level-5 last year, the Fantasy Life and Professor Layton developer has revealed.
In a new entry on the Level-5 "Five-Star Workshop Devlog", Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino describes the "unexpected challenge" faced by upcoming RPG Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time, which is set for a May release after having suffered numerous delays.
Hino says that Inafune, who was serving as a producer on the project, left Level-5 "in mid-2024", causing the studio to "reassess and restructure the project". Inafune's departure, together with "harsh evaluations" from early playtesters, led Level-5 to undertake a "complete overhaul" of Fantasy Life i.
Hino goes on to say that the additions prompted by Inafune's departure and the feedback, including "parkour-style actions" and "open-world exploration", caused testers to give the game "high praise", reminding Hino and the team of the "true joy in creating a large-scale game".
If you need a refresher, Keiji Inafune worked with Capcom from the late 80s through to 2010, helping to create enduring franchises like Mega Man, Dead Rising, and Onimusha, among others.
He left Capcom in 2010 and created Comcept, the studio that would go on to release the much-maligned Mighty No. 9, as well as games like Soul Sacrifice and ReCore.
Comcept was acquired by Level-5 in 2017, providing development assistance on Level-5 games like Megaton Musashi as well as spearheading the development of the aforementioned Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time.
It's not clear what Inafune will do next; he hasn't made any kind of official announcement regarding his departure. He could, however, take the route followed by some of his colleagues and start up his own studio, perhaps with backing from a company like NetEase (although that may be becoming more difficult).
In any case, Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is set for release on PC, PlayStation, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch on May 21st.
