LEVEL5 Comcept was founded by Keiji Inafune as Comcept.
Old logo.
LEVEL5 Comcept (株式会社レベルファイブコンセプト|Kabushiki gaisha Reberu Faibu Konseputo), formerly known as Comcept Inc. (株式会社コンセプト|Kabushiki gaisha Konseputo), is a Japanese video game developer based in Osaka, Japan with a former office in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded as Comcept on December 1, 2010 by former Capcom employee Keiji Inafune. The name "Comcept" is a combination of the words concept, and com, referring to the abbreviation of computer. Their projects include Soul Sacrifice, Mighty No. 9, ReCore, and Red Ash: The Indelible Legend. In addition to games on handheld and home consoles, the studio has developed multiple mobile games. In 2017 it was acquired by Level-5 to become a subsidiary of the company, adopting the new name LEVEL5 Comcept.
History[]
Keiji Inafune founded Comcept after his departure from Capcom in December 2010. After the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3, which he mentioned as a "long-time held dream", he thought that "not only had he abandoned himself, but the fans too". The studio is largely composed of veteran staff who worked on Mega Man, but also young staff who grew up with the franchise. Comcept is an design and production studio which pairs up with other studios to develop games. Often this includes working on multiple games at once, and doing a variety of genres instead of being narrowly focused.
At PAX Prime 2013, Keiji Inafune held a special panel in order to reveal a brand new project called Mighty No. 9, a spiritual successor to Mega Man series. At the end of the panel, Inafune officially launched the game's Kickstarter campaign. He thought that Kickstarter is a great way to make dreams a reality. The game was made with a partnership with developer Inti Creates. After several delays, the game was released in 2016. It was met with a mixed critical reception for its level of quality and gameplay.
Following the release of the game, Keiji Inafune stated: "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." adding "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."
His translator, Ben Judd followed up these remarks by giving his assessment of the project: "In this case, it was do the base game and do all the ports all at the same time. And it ended up being a huge amount of work, more than they actually estimated. Definitely, when they looked at the project, they were wrong about a lot of things. They underestimated how much work, time and money was going to be necessary. All of those things create a huge amount of pressure. Later Judd added “But, again, we can hope that if things go well, there'll be sequels. Because I'll tell you what, I'm not getting my 2D side-scrolling fill. And at the end of the day, even if it's not perfect, it's better than nothing. At least, that's my opinion.”
In 2017, Comcept licensed the Mighty No.9 characters to Inti Creates for them to use however they wished, free of charge, for the game Mighty Gunvolt Burst for the Nintendo Switch.
Comcept was acquired by Level-5 and renamed as LEVEL5 Comcept. The Tokyo location was closed and the Osaka location currently functions as a subsidiary of Level-5.
Games developed[]
| Year | Title | Co-developer | Platform(s) | Note(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Mighty No. 9 | Inti Creates | Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Kickstarter |
| TBA | Red Ash: The Indelible Legend | HYDE, Inc. | Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One | Kickstarter failed, funding provided by Fuze Entertainment. |