Atsushi Inaba

Atsushi Inaba
稲葉 敦志
Inaba in 2004
Born	(1971-08-28) August 28, 1971 (age 53) Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan
Occupation	Video game producer
Years active	1992–present
Employer	PlatinumGames
Title	CEO

Atsushi Inaba (稲葉 敦志, Inaba Atsushi, born August 28, 1971) is a Japanese video game producer and businessman. He was the former CEO and producer of the Capcom subsidiary Clover Studio, who developed the games Viewtiful Joe, Ōkami, and God Hand. He is currently the head producer at the development division at PlatinumGames and the CEO since 2021,^[1] after years being vice-president in the company.

Career

Inaba was born in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, in 1971.^[2]

Inaba first worked for Irem, specifically working on R-Type Leo.^[3] From there he joined Nazca Corporation and then SNK, where he did programming work on the Samurai Shodown series.^[3] After reading a want ad for Capcom in Famitsu magazine, Inaba joined the company in 1998 with hopes of working on the next Resident Evil game. He ended up working on Hideki Kamiya's Devil May Cry, and later produced games in the Ace Attorney and Steel Battalion series.^[3] Inaba, Kamiya, and Shinji Mikami, as well as other Capcom employees, began working at the company's new second-party developer Clover Studio in April 2004.^[4] Inaba acted as the team's producer and CEO, which managed to produce a few titles, including the critically acclaimed Ōkami. Inaba left Capcom in 2006 to form his own company, named SEEDS.^[5][6] Clover was being officially closed by Capcom in early 2007.^[7]

In October 2007, SEEDS merged with the company ODD. This new company was rebranded as PlatinumGames.^[5] He holds the position of head producer of the development division.

The company employs many former key members of Clover. In May 2008, PlatinumGames announced a four-game deal with Sega. The games involved in the development and publishing deal include Bayonetta, a "stylish action game" for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 directed by Hideki Kamiya and featuring "a witch battling angels", a science-fiction RPG for the Nintendo DS called Infinite Space, MadWorld, an "ultra ultra violent" action game for the Wii with black and white Sin City-inspired graphics.,^[8] and Vanquish, an action heavy third-person shooter directed by Shinji Mikami. A fifth game, Anarchy Reigns, was later added to this deal and was released in 2012 for PS3 and Xbox 360.^[9]

Inaba was also the producer for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance after PlatinumGames picked up development from Kojima Productions.

In January 2021, it was announced that he would be the new CEO of PlatinumGames. Previously, Inaba was vice-president for years.^[10]

Recognition

Inaba was ranked number 49 on IGN's Top 100 Game Creators of All Time list in 2009.^[11]

Works

Video games

Year	Game	Role
1992	Bomber Man World	Planner
	R-Type Leo
1997	Samurai Shodown 64	Programmer
1998	Samurai Shodown 64: Warriors Rage	Programmer[12]
2001	Resident Evil – Code: Veronica X	Assistant producer
	Devil May Cry	Technical cooperation
	Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney	Producer
	Granbo
2002	Black Black
	Steel Battalion
	Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney − Justice for All
2003	Viewtiful Joe
2004	Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney − Trials and Tribulations
	Steel Battalion: Line of Contact
	Viewtiful Joe 2
2005	Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble
	Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble!
2006	Ōkami
	God Hand
2009	MadWorld
	Infinite Space
2010	Vanquish
2012	Anarchy Reigns
2013	Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
	The Wonderful 101
2014	Bayonetta 2
	The Legend of Korra	Executive producer
2015	Transformers: Devastation
2016	Star Fox Zero	Producer
	Star Fox Guard
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan	Executive producer
2017	Nier: Automata
2019	Astral Chain
2021	World of Demons
2022	Sol Cresta
	Bayonetta 3
2023	Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon
TBA	Project G.G.[13]	Producer

Canceled games

• Scalebound – Producer
• Lost Order – Producer

References

1. Kenichi, Sato. "Platinum Games Official Blog: An Announcement". platinumgames.com. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
2. "Atsushi Inaba PlatinumGames Inc". PlatinumGames. Archived from the original on 18 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
3. Sheffield, Brandon (October 23, 2006). "Capcom & Clover, Over and Over: Former Clover Head Atsushi Inaba on a Post-Capcom World". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2009-03-27.
4. Fudge, James (April 21, 2004). "Capcom Announces Clover Studio". GameSpy. Archived from the original on 2011-06-10. Retrieved 2009-04-04.
5. "Bitsummit". bitsummit.org. Archived from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2017-05-13.
6. Sinclair, Brendan (February 14, 2007). "Clover vets reunite, form Seeds". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2011-05-24. Retrieved 2009-11-11.
7. Miekle, James (January 30, 2008). "Clover Blossoms: Atsushi Inaba Interview". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on April 2, 2016. Retrieved 2009-04-04.
8. French, Michael (May 12, 2008). "Sega signs up Platinums trio". Develop. Archived from the original on 13 May 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
9. McWhertor, Michael (January 27, 2011). "First Look At Anarchy Reigns, From The Makers of Madworld". Kotaku.
10. "PlatinumGames appoints new CEO Atsushi Inaba". 13 January 2022.
11. "IGN - 49. Atsushi Inaba". IGN. Archived from the original on 6 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-04.
12. "Samurai Shodown 64: Warriors Rage- One Credit Playthrough" – via www.youtube.com.
13. Romano, Sal (February 25, 2020). "Platinum Games announces Hideki Kamiya-directed hero game Project G.G." Gematsu. Retrieved February 25, 2020.

External links

• PlatinumGames website
• Atsushi Inaba at MobyGames