Inti Creates Boss Talks Blaster Master Zero’s Name, Azure Striker Gunvolt Sales And More

Last year, Dengeki Online interviewed Inti Creates CEO Takuya Aizu to talk about video games and how Inti Creates is performing.

The interview has been translated into English by Dengeki Online. Here are some things we thought may be interesting:

――To go back in time a bit, how did development on “Blaster Master Zero” come to start?

For brands, or rather IP (intellectual properties), simply holding them will cause fans to forget, and eventually they will die. Because of that, the names need to be used or similar games need to be made somewhat regularly. SUNCORP is very aware of this, so they were looking to reboot “Blaster Master” to keep the memory of it alive among gamers.

With that in mind, they were looking for someone to make a side-scrolling action-adventure game—practically a bullseye for us. We met through our Nagoya branch office, which belongs to the Game Academics and Industries Relationship Association (GAIRA) in Nagoya. There, we had the chance to meet with SUNCORP’s staff directly who asked, “So, will you make it?” However, at the time our development team had their hands entirely full, so we told them, “We’ll think about it,” as a polite way of half-refusing (laughs).

――About “Gunvolt,” though the first title had a good reception, I recall that the second title didn’t do very well… Was that true both in Japan and overseas?

Oh, my talk from “Tokyo Indie Fest.” About that, please allow me to explain a bit. Domestically, “Gunvolt 2” sold well. As a direct story sequel from the previous game, it could be considered a success if it sold 70% of the previous game’s sales. By that metric, it managed to sell over those expectations, so please don’t worry.

At “Tokyo Indie Fest,” the audience actually consists mostly of people from overseas. A large portion of the audience are resident Americans and foreigners watching on Twitch, so it was more appropriate to give a talk from that viewpoint. So, instead of speaking about domestic sales, I touched on the overseas sales figures.

Looking at overseas figures, in 2016, the Nintendo 3DS had largely stalled in sales. Because of that, 2014 and 2016 presented very different markets on the platform. In that environment, games selling on the Nintendo eShop faced a difficult struggle, and that is what I was speaking on.

Check out the full interview here.