Back in the days before breakthrough franchises like "Lost Planet" and "Dead Rising," Capcom had taken on a rather conservative approach to the development of new properties. The company, apparently facing tight budget restrictions, had adopted a policy that almost entirely restricted the implementation of original titles. According to former Capcom development guru Keiji Inafune, he may have actually saved the company by breaking those very rules.
Inafune spoke to a group of Kyoto film students recently, discussing his viewpoints on "creative leadership" during his two decade run with Capcom. As reported by Famitsu (via Andriasang), the "Dead Rising" director wasn't afraid to break with company convention, and in turn, perhaps force the company's hand to develop his original property ideas.
The rule, as mentioned above, kept risky game production at a minimum. On the books, the company was allocating around 80-percent of its development budget to sequels, with only 20-percent reserved for new, original titles. According to Inafune, the reality was far more grim: making anything other than a sequel was actually forbidden. A designer might submit an original concept for that 20-percent budget, but they were always denied.
So, when Inafune approached Capcom management with the ideas for "Lost Planet" and "Dead Rising," they were immediately rejected. He wasn't deterred, however; the director decided to proceed with development on both titles anyway.
According to Inafune, Capcom had a budget directly set aside for prototypes, and he hoped that if he continued developing the rejected titles (without permission), he would exceed the budget. Why would he want to exceed the budget? Well, his thought process was that Capcom would see the amount of money they had already spent on the title and decide go forward with it anyway. Risky, job-threatening stuff, but it obviously worked.
"Lost Planet's" prototype apparently went over by 400-percent. You might think this would get Inafune fired, but the fact is "Lost Planet" (as well as "Dead Rising") have gone on to sell millions of units all around the world. Keiji Inafune took a risk, and it paid off.
Personally, I'm glad he took those risks. Otherwise, I may have had to go through my life having never chopped a zombie in half with chainsaws strapped to the end of a boat oar. What kind of life would that be?