Inafune: Varied environments were behind Lost Planet 2's failure
The lost direction led to the game's commercial and critical failure
Capcom had high hopes for Lost Planet 2 when it launched earlier this year, but the title ultimately ended up coming short, both critically and commercially.
Keiji Inafune, Capcom's head of research and development, claims that the game's misguided art direction was largely the cause of it's failure. According to Inafune, the premise of the original Lost Planet was "shooting game based on the extreme icy conditions," which the sequel stepped away from by introducing jungle environments.
"What I learned from that experience was we really have to be clear on the concept, the foundation of the game, then we can build upon that," he told Official Xbox Magazine. "The concept [for Lost Planet 2] was not clearly defined in the beginning."
After the tremendous success of Street Fighter IV and Resident Evil 5 in 2009, Capcom has struggled to launch a game in 2010 that is of a similar calibre. The Japanese publisher may be on the track to success with the upcoming Dead Rising 2, though.
