A portion of a Gamasutra interview with Inafune...

GS: There aren't that many big independent studios in Japan. Can you talk about why?

KI: Even what independent developers there are here essentially follow orders from their client publishers. There really aren't a lot of rights given to them. As a result, you don't really see companies on the orders of hundreds of employees that try to make a name for themselves via making good products.

With outfits in the US and Europe, it's more of a case of the developer really trying to make their own successes and reap the rewards -- that's why you see inspired people entering developers instead of publishers, and that's why it's easier for developers to build up people pretty quickly. Meanwhile, in Japan, the idea's often that you enter a developer because you couldn't join a publisher, so it's harder for them to attract people.

GS: Do you hope to change this culture, and thus change the options for developers in Japan? You've talked a lot about the problems of the Japanese game industry.

KI: Certainly. That was part of the motivation behind me leaving Capcom. I learned everything about the publisher's viewpoint of the business from Capcom; now I'm learning everything about the developer's side of it.

I think there needs to be more energy among developers before the Japanese game industry will improve, and if we want to complete globally, they need to take a more global approach to development. So I'm trying to make a company where the developers feel more of a reward for making great products. I'd like to succeed at that, and I hope that inspires other outfits to see if they can duplicate that success.