he also said, "I'll own all the problems the game has, and if you'd like to hurdle insults at me, you're welcome to"... I don't know, the tone of that in writing feels aggressive, but it didn't seem cynical to me at the time. I don't know every part of this story, but I have some sympathy for everyone here.
Let's be real, it sucks to have a dream for years then spend years working on a chance at it only to have it completely fail in the end. Nobody wants that for themselves. Nobody wants that for others. With that in mind, one might want to feel bad for Inafune, but there are other factors here...
1) It was not just any old original game project. They pushed the Mega Man likeness hard. They set this up as the great justice for all the fans who longed for those games that got nixed by Capcom. They got a bunch of Mega Man people on the team and partnered with IntiCreates who did some awesome Mega Man games. It asked people to give their money to
that dream then took the original idea it had and used it to make a style of play completely different.
2) It strongly downgraded even from what it seemed like it wanted to be and promised. You could maybe overlook the departure from Mega Man if it realized something else very well. The concept art was solid, they had fans voting on different things and lots of commentary on the personality of different characters. Years down the road it looks like a Dreamcast game with less-than-PS1 animation cutscenes. Less than mere flaws, it seems actually unrealized in many ways.
3) When it was clear shit was fucked up, they hid that from backers until they were forced to come out with it. They made promises and broke them. Then they did it again. They were more than just secretive, much with how they spoke to backers can be seen as outright dishonesty. You don't do that with people who funded you. It is a massive disrespect and earns you disrespect in return. Red Ash in the middle of it was also a huge misplay.
If you want to be gracious with that, you are free to do so, but I wouldn't say people are being unfair. If they were completely forthright and proactively open and honest, things would be different. I will say he did the right thing insofar as owning the faults of the game, saying in other messages that there is no excuse for their repeated failures, and not holding it against people if they insult him. Inafune should be the most humble man in the industry right now. He's going to have to display that while also delivering awesome games for a few years before many people to start respecting him again.
The people I feel bad for are the development team people who had no role at all in direction decisions that resulted in the state of the final product. I've definitely worked at places where offering your very best amounts to shit because of flawed systems and leadership decisions. It sucks.
Probably like this estimate for Yooka Laylee.
Transparency. Like you're talking to current and possibly future investors. Because you are. Playtonic knows.
