Notice: This text beforehand incorrectly said that Keiji Inafune designed Mega Man. We’ve corrected the error and apologise for the error.
A model new weblog submit from Stage-5 has revealed a few of the improvement woes its upcoming title Fantasy Life i: The Lady Who Steals Time.
Specifically, the sport’s producer — Keiji Inafune, who is probably greatest often called a personality designer for the Mega Man collection — left the corporate in mid-2024. This additionally implies that Level5 comcet, which was created after Stage-5 acquired Inafune’s studio Comcept, has additionally been shuttered, with all tasks transferred over to Stage-5’s Osaka Workplace.
Since Inafune’s departure in 2024, Stage-5 CEO Akihiro Hino has now taken over as producer of the undertaking, and has not been shy about sharing the difficulties of improvement within the weblog submit.
“…we needed to reassess and restructure the undertaking”, Hino writes, “In the meantime, inner check gamers had given the sport harsh evaluations, making it clear that main revisions had been needed. In response, I made a decision to tackle the position of producer, shifting the core improvement group from Osaka to our headquarters.”
Since coming below Hino’s wing, the undertaking has “developed right into a collective effort throughout our complete firm”, with groups from Fukuoka, Tokyo, and different places pitching in. Hino says that this allowed Stage-5 to develop the group and “concentrate on fine-tuning the sport’s high quality proper up till the very finish.”
Fantasy Life i: The Lady Who Steals Time has been rising in dimension since its announcement in 2023, but it surely’s additionally confronted a number of delays. The sport settled on a closing launch date earlier this 12 months, and likewise confirmed the sport was going multiplatform.
Since its preliminary announcement, Fantasy Life i has added open-world components and parkour-inspired motion, an entire rehaul of the sport’s development system and circulation, and a refinement of the principle story “to be much more emotionally impactful.” Cross-Play, Cross-Save, and UI enhancements have additionally been promised.
“Due to the stable basis of the sport’s core mechanics, these additions didn’t simply slot in—they enhanced what was already nice in regards to the sport, making the expertise considerably extra pleasing”, Hino states within the submit, confirming that the sport is “lastly nearing completion”.
You possibly can learn the total weblog submit, the place Hino guarantees to share common updates of sport improvement progress, on the Stage-5 web site.
Fantasy Life i: The Lady Who Steals Time launches on Change on twenty first Could 2025. Are you trying ahead to the sport? Are you shocked about Inafune’s departure? Tell us within the feedback.
