Castlevania Producer Koji Igarashi Leaves Konami

By Jorge Ba-oh 18.03.2014 7

Castlevania Producer Koji Igarashi Leaves Konami on Nintendo gaming news, videos and discussion

The face of Konami's iconic Castlevania series, Koji Igarashi, has confirmed his departure from the company today.

The game designer hopes to form his own new development studio to "have the freedom to make the kind of games I really want to make", he said in a statement. That said, leaving Konami was not one he took lightly, having spent his entire career at the publisher.

Moving forward, Igarashi hopes "all the gamers and fans who have supported me in the past will join me in being excited about what comes next. Wish me luck!"

Igarashi departed Konami on March 15th.

What concepts and types of games would you like to see Igarashi produce in the future?

Box art for Castlevania
Developer

Konami

Publisher

Konami

Genre

2D Platformer

Players

1

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Our member of the week

Worst news I heard of late Smilie !! And here I was actually replaying Harmony of Dissonance on my trusty GBA SP, wishing inside of me that we get to see more Castlevania games like these. The die-hard Castlevania fan inside of me just died. The franchise is doomed in the hands of the studio in charge now Smilie.

Cubed3 Limited Staff :: Review and Feature Writer

RudyC3 said:
Worst news I heard of late Smilie !! And here I was actually replaying Harmony of Dissonance on my trusty GBA SP, wishing inside of me that we get to see more Castlevania games like these. The die-hard Castlevania fan inside of me just died. The franchise is doomed in the hands of the studio in charge now Smilie.
It's not looking good for any fan of the traditional CV games wanting something old-school from Konami, but this could work out good. Look at Inafune after leaving Capcom and now making Mighty No. 9. IGA could end up crafting a brand new CV-style game under a new name - better than anything Konami has put out for many years. I hope so, anyway.

RudyC3 said:
Worst news I heard of late Smilie !! And here I was actually replaying Harmony of Dissonance on my trusty GBA SP, wishing inside of me that we get to see more Castlevania games like these. The die-hard Castlevania fan inside of me just died. The franchise is doomed in the hands of the studio in charge now Smilie.

He may do an Inafune and produce a crowdfunded series that's close to Castlevania in design, but not quite methinks.

Cubed3 Admin/Founder & Designer

I was really happy about this news. IGA has been left out in the cold by Konami, so finally he'll be able to do what true Castlevania fans want him to do - another Metroidvania!

Adam Riley [ Director :: Cubed3 ]

UNITE714: Weekly Prayers | Bible Verses
Our member of the week

Some of the latest IGA produced Castlevania games didn't even have more than a reference to the Belmonts (see Order of Ecclesia), and Dracula was barely even mentioned until you have to fight him at the end so... He should be fine managing to do something with a similar theme without infringing on Konami's copyright.

After all, as far as I know, Dracula is public domain by now, no one can prevent IGA from using the character and start out with a new bunch of heroes, it's already been done within the Castlevania series itself.

Cubed3 Limited Staff :: Review and Feature Writer
Jmanultra (guest) 19.03.2014#6

 Good. Now he can create a "Castlevania killer", hopefully on multiple platforms.

Whoa.......well thats the nature on the japanese gaming market right now. I feel they ar longing for a time were the games were more about creativity,originality, and inovation. Not just about making a buck for Corporate buracrats and stockholders. Being a 35 year old and seeing all the mmos, campains, HD grapics and hi priced gaming systems thats a time im longing for as well. good news is i door see a light at the end of the tunnel......this revolution of indipendent developers.....The raw talent, and freedom of gaming takes me back to a better time in gaming, and a lot of hope for the future. Being an aspiering indipendate game developer myself i would love to be part of this revolution that Kenji Inafune and  Koji igarashi  are now part of............. man i would love if they got together and made a game too! 

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