News

Level-5 Announces Keiji Inafune's Departure, Establishment of Osaka Studio for Fantasy Life i Game

Level 5 revealed on the newly established Five-Star Workshop Devlog on Monday that producer and game designer Keiji Inafune Mega Man parted ways with the studio in mid-2024 amid development for the Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time game. The studio also announced the establishment of the Level 5 Osaka Office, which took over business operations from LEVEL5 comcept including development of the game, as part of the company's restructuring. Inafune had led the LEVEL5 comcept studio. CEO Akihiro Hino took over the role of producer for the project.

The blog added that development of the new Fantasy Life title is in the final stage and will feature full multi-platform support, cross-save (save data across different consoles), and cross-play between platforms, as well as UI changes.

Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time launches for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam on May 21. The game was initially slated for 2023, before getting a delay to last summer, and then it was scheduled to launch on October 10, before getting delayed indefinitely. It was previously slated for an April 2025 release.

Nintendo describes the game:

Embark on a grand adventure into the past and transcend time in a completely new entry in the Fantasy Life series! Gather friends, craft, and build your own city as you explore the island with whatever Life suits you. Travel between the past and present to unravel the mysteries of this ruined island!

The game takes place on Mysteria Island. As in the previous titles, players create their own avatars, and can battle, gather, and craft. Lives, which are the in-game professions, include paladin, woodcutter, and cook.

Nintendo released the first Fantasy Life Nintendo 3DS game in North America in October 2014. The game originally launched in Japan in 2012.

Level-5 first revealed Fantasy Life Online as Fantasy Life 2: Futatsu no Tsuki to Kamisama no Mura (Fantasy Life 2 Twin Moons and the Sacred Village) in 2015, and the company held a closed beta in July 2016. Level 5 then changed the title to Fantasy Life Online in October 2016, with a planned release in 2016. Level 5 then delayed the game several times before releasing the game in July 2018. Boltrend Games released the game worldwide in December 2021. The game ended service in Japan in December 2021. The game ended worldwide service on February 6.

Inafune is known as the character designer and planner of the Mega Man series, as well as for his work on the Lost Planet, Dead Rising and Onimusha series. He was also Global Head of Production at CAPCOM in 2010.

Sources: Level 5's blog, Level 5 via Gematsu