Once upon a time, Keiji Inafune had a dream. The longtime Mega Man producer (and creator of the Mega Man Legends spin-off series) believed that the video game industry needed to evolve. After spearheading a (mostly failed) initiative to Westernize game development at Capcom, he left the company to form his own studio, Comcept.
The studio started out strong, with the crowdfunding campaign for their debut title, the Mega Man-inspired Mighty No. 9, raising over $4 million on Kickstarter. Despite the massive hype towards a spiritual successor to the legendary Mega Man series, Mighty No 9 was a commercial failure when it finally launched in 2016. And the less said about Red Ash, a failed campaign which sought to give Mega Man Legends the “Mighty” treatment, the better.
Aside from the Mighty debacle, Comcept earned some acclaim as co-developer on numerous projects, including Ninja Gaiden Yaiba, Soul Sacrifice, and others. In 2017, the studio was acquired by Level-5, where they spent years working on various Japanese titles under a new name, “Level-5 Comcept.”
Keiji Inafune left the company back in 2024, which led to the Comcept name being retired in 2025, with the studio being re-renamed to “Level-5 Osaka Office.” And now, as reported by gematsu (via Gamebiz), a shareholder vote has officially dissolved Comcept as a, well, concept.
It’s the end of an era. The studio certainly saw its ups and downs over the years, but was never able to fully recover from the ambition and embarrassment of Mighty No 9. In another universe, instead of pivoting to the ill-advised Red Ash, maybe Inafune could have courted Capcom to make a proper Mega Man Legends 3 instead. For many players of a certain age, the lingering cliffhanger of the Mega Man Legends series is a wound that has never fully healed. I’d like to think Keiji Inafune will return to Mega Man Legends before he retires, to give Legends fans the closure we deserve. But maybe that’s just wishful thinking on my part.
Related: Sixteen Years After Act II, The Protomen: Act III Is Finally Releasing
This story was originally published by GameDaily on Jan 29, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add GameDaily as a Preferred Source by clicking here.