Mega Man 10 released back in March 2010 and fans have waited a long time for the next classic installment in Mega Man 11. Capcom explained why the series had such a long break in an interview with VentureBeat.
Here’s what Mega Man 11 producer Kazuhiro Tsuchiya said when asked why there was such a long wait between Mega Man 10 and Mega Man 11:
“As I’m sure you’re well aware, Inafune-san departed a long while ago. Obviously a lot of other people were working on Mega Man at the time, and there were a lot of people within the company that had a strong desire to make a new Mega Man, but it was very difficult. The atmosphere just didn’t feel right for anybody to raise their hand and say, ‘I want to be the person that makes the next Mega Man.’ That was kind of the general atmosphere for a long while. It was a big reason why there was a long absence for a new Mega Man game.”
Director Koji Oda also chimed in:
“For me, it wasn’t so much about, why is this taking so long? It was more about, why aren’t we making a new Mega Man game? I’d been making a lot of other titles for a while, and the whole time there was this feeling of, all right, when is this going happen? Who’s going to pick it up? No one? Look at all this social media feedback. I guess I’ll do it if no one else is going to. That was how things came about.”
The departure of Keiji Inafune played a big role in the wait as it left a void and Capcom staff were hesitant to step in as the new “Mega Man guy,” but ultimately it seems like the passionate fans who showed they wanted more was what gave them the extra push. Tsuchiya shared more on that:
“What was really nice was, when we released Mega Man Legacy Collection, it did really well. It had 1 million sales worldwide. It was very much a way of numerically showcasing, to people internally, that there is a strong fan base. There are people waiting for a new Mega Man game. We were able to show that with those numbers. We wouldn’t have been able to do that without our fans. I’m very thankful to our fan base.”
Mega Man 11 releases on October 2, 2018 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. You can check out its pre-order trailer here and more details on the game including the Double Gear system here.
