is a Japanese

video game producer A video game producer is the top person in charge of overseeing development of a video game. History The earliest documented use of the term ''producer'' in games was by Trip Hawkins, who established the position when he founded Electronic Arts ...

and businessman. He was the former

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

and producer of the

Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...

subsidiary

Clover Studio was a Japanese video game development studio founded by Capcom. The studio developed the PlayStation 2 port of '' Viewtiful Joe'', both versions of ''Viewtiful Joe 2'' for the GameCube and PlayStation 2, and the PS2 titles ''Ōkami'' and '' God ...

, who developed the games ''

Viewtiful Joe is a side scrolling beat 'em up video game franchise created by Japanese game designer Hideki Kamiya. It is primarily developed and published by Capcom and its subsidiary Clover Studio. Games ''Viewtiful Joe'' (2003) The first game in the ...

'', ''

Ōkami is an action-adventure video game developed by Clover Studio and published by Capcom. It was released for PlayStation 2 in 2006 in Japan and North America, and in 2007 in Europe and Australia. After the closure of Clover Studio a few months a ...

'', and ''

God Hand is a beat 'em up video game developed by Clover Studio and published by Capcom for the PlayStation 2. It was released in Japan and North America in 2006, and in 2007 for PAL territories. It was re-released for the PlayStation 3 as a List of PlayS ...

''. He is currently the head producer at the development division at

PlatinumGames PlatinumGames Inc. is a Japanese video game developer that was founded in October 2007 as result of a merger between two companies, Seeds Inc. and Odd Inc. Shinji Mikami, Atsushi Inaba, and Hideki Kamiya founded Seeds Inc. after the closure of ...

and the CEO since 2021, after years being vice-president in the company.

Career

Inaba was born in

Kanazawa, Ishikawa is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 466,029 in 203,271 households, and a population density of 990 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Overview Cityscape ...

, in 1971. Inaba first worked for

Irem is a Japanese video game console developer and publisher, and formerly a developer and manufacturer of arcade games as well. The company has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The full name of the company that uses the brand is Irem Softwar ...

, specifically working on '' R-Type Leo''. From there he joined Nazca Corporation and then

SNK is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. It is the successor to the company Shin Nihon Kikaku and presently owns the SNK video game brand and the Neo Geo video game platform. SNK's predecessor Shin Nihon Kikaku was founded in 1978 ...

, where he did programming work on ''

Samurai Shodown ''Samurai Shodown'', known in Japan as is a fighting game series by SNK. The series began in 1993 and is known for being one of the earliest in the genre with a primary focus on weapon-based combat. Plot The stories in the series take place in ...

''. After reading a want ad for Capcom in ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' magazine, Inaba joined the company in 1998 with hopes of working on the next ''

Resident Evil ''Resident Evil'', known in Japan as is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...

'' game. He ended up working on

Hideki Kamiya is a Japanese video game designer and director who is the vice-president of PlatinumGames. He began his career in 1994 with Capcom, where he directed '' Resident Evil 2'' (1998), ''Devil May Cry'' (2001), '' Viewtiful Joe'' (2003), and ''Ō ...

's ''

Devil May Cry is a series of action-adventure games created by Hideki Kamiya. It is primarily developed and published by Capcom. The series centers on the demon hunter Dante and his efforts to thwart various demon invasions of Earth. Its gameplay consists o ...

'', and later produced games in the ''

Ace Attorney ''Ace Attorney'' is a series of visual novel adventure video games developed by Capcom. With storytelling fashioned after legal dramas, the first entry in the series, ''Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney'', was released in 2001; since then, five f ...

'' and ''

Steel Battalion is a video game created by Capcom for the Xbox console where the player controls a "Vertical Tank"—a bipedal, heavily armed mecha. To control the tank and play the game requires the use of a large controller (Mega-Jockey-9000) made specially f ...

'' series. Inaba, Kamiya, and

Shinji Mikami is a Japanese video game designer, director, and producer. Starting his career at Capcom in 1990, he has worked on many of the company's most successful games. He directed the first installment of the ''Resident Evil'' series in 1996 and the f ...

, as well as other Capcom employees, began working at the company's new second-party developer

in April 2004. Inaba acted as the team's producer and CEO, which managed to produce a few titles, including the critically acclaimed ''

''. Inaba left Capcom in 2006 to form his own company, named SEEDS. Clover was being officially closed by Capcom in early 2007. In October 2007, SEEDS merged with the company ODD. This new company was rebranded as

. 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 is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

. The games involved in the development and publishing deal include ''

Bayonetta is a series of action-adventure games created by Hideki Kamiya and developed by PlatinumGames. The franchise was introduced in 2009 with ''Bayonetta''. Two sequels were released, ''Bayonetta 2'' (2014) and ''Bayonetta 3'' (2022), as well as a s ...

'', a "stylish action game" for the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

and

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

directed by Hideki Kamiya and featuring "a witch battling angels", a science-fiction RPG for the

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

called ''

Infinite Space is a 2009 role-playing video game co-developed by Nude Maker and PlatinumGames for the Nintendo DS. It was published by Sega in 2009 in Japan, and 2010 in Western territories. The science fiction storyline, set across the Small and Large Magel ...

'', ''

MadWorld is a beat 'em up hack and slash video game developed by PlatinumGames, published by Sega, produced by Atsushi Inaba, and directed by Shigenori Nishikawa. It was released worldwide for the Wii in March 2009 and in Japan in February 2010. ''Mad ...

'', an "ultra ultra violent" action game for the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

with black and white ''

Sin City ''Sin City'' is a series of neo-noir comics by American comic book writer-artist Frank Miller. The first story originally appeared in ''Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special'' (April 1991), and continued in ''Dark Horse Presents'' #51� ...

''-inspired graphics., and '' Vanquish'', an action heavy third-person shooter directed by Shinji Mikami. A fifth game, ''

Anarchy Reigns ''Anarchy Reigns'', known in Japan as is an open world beat 'em up video game developed by PlatinumGames and published by Sega. It is the spiritual successor to the Wii video game ''MadWorld'' (2009), and was released in Japan on July 5, 2012, in ...

'', was later added to this deal and was released in 2012 for PS3 and Xbox 360. Inaba was also the producer for '' Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance'' after PlatinumGames picked up development from

Kojima Productions Kojima Productions Co., Ltd. is a Japanese Video game developer, video game development studio founded in 2015 by video game designer Hideo Kojima, creator of the ''Metal Gear'' series. It is the spiritual successor to a production team inside K ...

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

Recognition

Inaba was ranked number 49 on ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

s Top 100 Game Creators of All Time list in 2009.

Works

References

External links

PlatinumGames website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Inaba, Atsushi 1971 births Capcom people Nintendo people Japanese chief executives Japanese video game designers Living people People from Kanazawa, Ishikawa