# Level-5 Osaka Office

Level-5 Osaka Office is a Japanese video game developer and division of Level-5 based in Osaka. It was created in 2024 as the successor to Level-5 Comcept, itself originally founded as Comcept, Inc. by former Capcom designer Keiji Inafune on December 1, 2010 as an independent company. As Comcept, their works included Soul Sacrifice, Mighty No. 9, ReCore and Red Ash: The Indelible Legend. In addition to games on handheld and home consoles, Comcept (and as Level-5 Comcept) also developed multiple mobile games. The company was acquired by Level-5 in 2017 and became a subsidiary. Inafune left Level-5 in 2024, and the company folded Level-5 Comcept into its newly-created Osaka Office, based in the former Level-5 Comcept office.

## History
### Founding

Keiji Inafune founded Comcept after his departure from Capcom in December 2010. After the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3, which he mentioned as a "long-time held dream", he thought that "not only had he abandoned himself, but the fans too".
Comcept functioned as a design and production studio which paired up with other studios to develop games. This often included working on multiple games at once, and doing a variety of genres instead of being narrowly focused.
Comcept's first game was the free to play smartphone title, The Island of Dr. Momo. The game had micro-transactions, and was released through the GREE platform. They also developed another mobile game, J.J. Rockets.

### Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z

In September 2012, the team's next project was revealed as a new Ninja Gaiden title, named Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z. The game is a collaboration between Comcept, Team Ninja, and American developer Spark Unlimited. When announcing the game, Inafune said: "I’m very happy to stand here next to Mr. [Yosuke] Hayashi today, and we’ll prove to you that we are going to survive and make good games that will lead the Japanese game industry."
The game was released in March 2014 to a largely negative reception, with Metacritic giving it a score of 43. GamesRadar included it in their list of "the 50 worst games of all time".

### Kaio: King of Pirates

In 2012, Comcept and Intercept (another game developer founded by Inafune) began work on Kaio: King of Pirates (海王, Kaiō), which was to be published by Marvelous. It was set for release on the Nintendo 3DS. Using a pirate setting, the plot was a retelling of the Chinese story Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Marvelous cancelled the game in 2015, and reported a loss of ¥461 million (roughly $3.8 million USD) on the project.

### Soul Sacrifice

In 2013, Comcept assisted Sony Computer Entertainment and its Japan Studio in designing the PlayStation Vita game Soul Sacrifice and the expansion, Soul Sacrifice Delta.

### Mighty No. 9

At PAX Prime 2013, Inafune held a special panel in order to reveal a brand new project called Mighty No. 9, a spiritual successor to the Mega Man series. At the end of the panel, Inafune officially launched the game's Kickstarter campaign. He thought that Kickstarter would be "a great way to make dreams a reality". The game was developed jointly with Inti Creates (another studio founded by Capcom staff). After several delays, the game was released in 2016. It was met with a mixed critical reception for its level of quality and gameplay.
Following the release of the game, Inafune stated: "You know, I want to word this in a way to explain some of the issues that come with trying to make a game of this size on multiple platforms." adding "I'm kind of loath to say this because it's going to sound like an excuse and I don't want to make any excuses. I own all the problems that came with this game and if you want to hurl insults at me, it's totally my fault. I'm the key creator. I will own that responsibility." His translator, Ben Judd, followed up these remarks by giving his assessment of the project: "In this case, it was do the base game and do all the ports all at the same time. And it ended up being a huge amount of work, more than they actually estimated. Definitely, when they looked at the project, they were wrong about a lot of things. They underestimated how much work, time and money was going to be necessary. All of those things create a huge amount of pressure." Later Judd added “But, again, we can hope that if things go well, there'll be sequels. Because I'll tell you what, I'm not getting my 2D side-scrolling fill. And at the end of the day, even if it's not perfect, it's better than nothing. At least, that's my opinion.”
In 2017, Comcept licensed the Mighty No. 9 characters to Inti Creates, allowing them to feature the characters however they wished, free of charge, in their Nintendo Switch game Mighty Gunvolt Burst.

### Red Ash

Red Ash: The Indelible Legend was announced as a spiritual successor to the Mega Man Legends series. Also funded via Kickstarter, the campaign ended with $519,999, well short of its $800,000 goal. It was later announced on July 30, 2015 that Chinese publisher Fuze would finance the game.
The campaign for Red Ash was heavily criticized by game journalists and fans alike, describing it as rushed and poorly planned.
A CGI short titled Red Ash: -Gearworld-, originally known as Red Ash: -Magicicada-, was funded by a separate Kickstarter campaign handled by Studio 4°C, that was released to coincide with the game. The short was released in March 2017 as part of the Young Animator Training Project's Anime Mirai 2017 project.
As of 2025, there have been no updates on Red Ash, and the project is presumed to be cancelled.

### Level-5 era

In 2017, Comcept was acquired by Level-5 and became Level-5 Comcept. The Tokyo location was closed, leaving the Osaka location as the sole base of operations. Their first game under Level-5 was the mobile game Dragon & Colonies, launched in June 2019. The game was shut down on February 17, 2020. It later provided development assistance for various later Level-5 games, such as Yo-kai Watch Jam: Yo-kai Academy Y – Waiwai Gakuen Seikatsu and Megaton Musashi. On February 8, 2023, it was revealed Level-5 Comcept would handle the development of Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time.
On March 3, 2025, Level-5 revealed on their blog that Inafune left the company in mid-2024 and the company itself took over the development of Fantasy Life i, which then underwent a major overhaul afterwards. The company then established its Osaka branch in Level-5 Comcept's offices to continue development of the game, with Level-5 Comcept being absorbed in the process.
Since leaving Level-5, Inafune joined Rocket Studio as creative director.

## Games developed

| Year | Title | Co-developer | Platform(s) | Note(s) |
| 2011 | The Island of Dr. Momo | | Android, iOS | Published via GREE |
| 2011 | JJ Rockets | Marvelous AQL | Android, iOS | |
| 2012 | Sweet Fuse: At Your Side | Idea Factory | PlayStation Portable | |
| 2013 | Soul Sacrifice | Marvelous AQL, Japan Studio | PlayStation Vita | |
| 2013 | Guild02 – Bugs vs. Tanks! | Level-5 | Nintendo 3DS | |
| 2014 | Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z | Team Ninja, Spark Unlimited | Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 | |
| 2014 | Soul Sacrifice Delta | Marvelous AQL, Japan Studio | PlayStation Vita | |
| 2016 | Mighty No. 9 | Inti Creates | Windows, OS X, Linux, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS, Xbox 360, Xbox One | Kickstarter; Vita and 3DS versions never completed |
| 2016 | ReCore | Armature Studio | Windows, Xbox One | |
| 2018 | Fantasy Life Online | Level-5 | Mobile phones | |
| 2019 | Dragons & Colonies | | Mobile phones | Launched in June 2019, temporarily taken offline from August to October and relaunched, shut down completely in February 2020 |
| 2020 | Yo-kai Watch Jam: Yo-kai Academy Y | Level-5 | Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 | |
| 2021 | Megaton Musashi | Level-5 | Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 |
| 2024 | Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road | Level-5 And Animation By Mappa | Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Playstation 5, Steam, IOS, Android | They launched the demo on July 18, 2024 and will release the official version scheduled for June 2025 the price has not yet been announced but it is said to cost $80. |
| 2025 | Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time | | Nintendo Switch | |