Comcept Inc. Officially Shut Down Following the Disastrous Release of Mighty No. 9

In 2010, former artist and producer for Capcom, Keiji Inafune, established Comcept Inc. in Osaka and initiated a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to develop his own «spiritual successor to Mega Man» titled Mighty No. 9. Six years later, the game was released but received a harsh reception, disappointing both Mega Man fans and new players alike.

To avoid bankruptcy, the studio joined the Japanese company Level-5 in 2017 and was rebranded as Level-5 Comcept. Since then, the developers have worked on several smaller projects. Recently, they have been focused on creating Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time, a fantasy JRPG with life simulation elements reminiscent of Animal Crossing, which is set to launch on May 21.

It turns out that Inafune himself left the studio in the middle of last year, leading the company to «rethink and restructure» the development of their new game. Now, just a few months before its release, Level-5 announced the complete integration of the former Comcept Inc. office. Akihiro Hino, CEO of Level-5, spoke about the current status of the studio’s latest game:

Akihiro Hino

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time will be available on PC (Steam), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and Nintendo Switch without Russian localization. As for Inafune, his next workplace remains unknown.