Inti Creates’ Takuya Aizu Discusses Making New IPs & ‘Gunvolt’ Spin-Off ‘Luminous Avenger iX’
by Matt Reisine
Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack (Image: Inti Creates)
Our friends at Source Gaming attended this year’s BitSummit, an annual gaming convention held every June in Japan. While attending the event, site founder PushDustIn and translator MasterOfBear were lucky enough to interview Takuya Aizu, the CEO and president of Inti Creates. Aizu himself has an impressive track record in the industry, having worked on acclaimed titles like Capcom’s massive Mega Man franchise and his studios’ own Azure Striker Gunvolt series.
Among the topics discussed, Aizu was asked why his company is focusing more on publishing their own works rather than developing titles using other publishers’ preexisting properties. The Inti Creates visionary admitted the industry in Japan has been shifting away from home console development and focusing more on mobile gaming. “The sheer amount of contracts from companies to make console games was decreasing over time until we’ve got to the point where we had staff, who weren’t working on any titles,” Aizu explained. “We didn’t want to say ‘Oh well, we can’t give you titles to work on, we lay you off,’ we didn’t want to do that. So we decided to fill the gap the other way and started to make our own titles.”
It was a decision that excited the staff, as many of the people employed there wanted to develop their own software. “When we decided to move towards making own IPs, the motivation and morale of the company were really high because we had a lot of creators who really had a bunch of amazing ideas and really wanted to see these games coming to life. It ended up working pretty well for us just because we had so much talent [who were ready] to start building on their own ideas and make these games happen.” Capcom’s four-part Mega Man Zero series was one Inti Creates developed, and Aizu noted how those who worked on it “are still in the company and a lot of them are more in a supervisor-role.” Moreover, several of the newer staff members played the Zero games and desired to make software like them.
Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX, a Gunvolt spin-off, is Inti Creates’ newest project, and PushDustIn asked if hero Gunvolt would loan his skills in it. Aizu responded by acknowledging the latest game shares its universe with the main Gunvolt series, but he remained coy regarding if the veteran protagonist would join the fray this time. “So obviously, there’s that thread connecting it to the world and it’s all part of the same universe. There’s relation back to the original Gunvolt games, but how big and small, it’s too early to say right now. We just announced this and just get out this big bit of information, we didn’t want to kill any suspense.” It was also reaffirmed this isn’t the proper third Gunvolt entry, as the core series is helmed by director Yoshihisa Tsuda. “But yeah, anything involving a direct sequel to the Gunvolt games has to come from him. So let’s see what happens.”
Several other topics discussed include whether DLC is in the pipeline for Luminous Avenger iX, whether the “X” in its title is a shoutout to the like-named Mega Man X, and how censorship has affected the sale and development of titles like Inti’s Gal*Gun 2, which contained “suggestive themes.” The entire interview can be found here.
About Author
