Keiji Inafune left LEVEL-5 in mid-2024; LEVEL-5 Osaka Office established to take over LEVEL5 comcept operations

Keiji Inafune left LEVEL-5 in mid-2024, the company announced in a post on its newly launched “Five-Star Workshop Devlog” development blog.

LEVEL-5 also announced the establishment of LEVEL-5 Osaka Office, which will take over all operations from LEVEL5 comcept, the previously studio led by Inafune under LEVEL-5 after it acquired Inafune’s Comcept in July 2017. Development work on FANTASY LIFE i: The Girl Who Steals Time has already been transferred over.

One of the development blog’s first posts shares more information behind the development of FANTASY LIFE i: The Girl Who Steals Time, which was recently dated for a May 21 release across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC via Steam, including how LEVEL-5 had to “reassess and restructure” the game following Inafune’s departure.

Get the full development blog below.

FANTASY LIFE i: A Bold Evolution!

FANTASY LIFE i is now in its final stage of development! All game data has been completed, and we are currently making the final balance adjustments. Compared to the version shown at Tokyo Game Show 2024, it has become even more fun. After release, I’d love to jump into online play and enjoy it together with everyone!

I believe that once you try the full version, you’ll find yourself thinking like: “Oh? This is even more fun than I expected!” → “Wait, this is seriously amazing!” → “Wow?! So many things to explore!”

In terms of content volume, this is the largest FANTASY LIFE game yet in every aspect. I apologize for the delay in the release, but this extra time has allowed us to bring full multi-platform support, cross-save (so you can carry your save data across different consoles), and cross-play (letting players on different platforms enjoy online multiplayer together). We’ve also made major user interface improvements, ensuring a more polished and seamless experience. Now, we’re finally bringing this game to completion in the best possible form. Please look forward to it!

Behind this Project…

In mid-2024, FANTASY LIFE faced an unexpected challenge. At that time, producer Keiji Inafune left the company, and we had to reassess and restructure the project.

Meanwhile, internal test players had given the game harsh evaluations, making it clear that major revisions were necessary. In response, I decided to take on the role of producer, shifting the core development team from Osaka to our headquarters.

While the Osaka team had been dedicated from the start, the project evolved into a collective effort across our whole company—with developers from Fukuoka, Tokyo and beyond, we were able to significantly strengthen our development capabilities.

This restructuring allowed us to expand the team and create an environment where we could focus on fine-tuning the game’s quality right up until the very end.

From that point onward, we undertook a complete overhaul of the game: adding open-world exploration and parkour-style actions, restructuring the system’s progression flow, improving the core mechanics, and refining the scenario to be even more emotionally impactful.

Thanks to the solid foundation of the game’s core mechanics, these additions didn’t just fit in—they enhanced what was already great about the game, making the experience significantly more enjoyable. The improvements received high praise from our internal testers too, marking a major milestone: FANTASY LIFE i was finally nearing completion after its long development journey.

For us, watching Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka (and Hokkaido, too!) come together as one to push the game’s quality to a higher level was a powerful reminder of the true joy in creating a large-scale game.

The day that we can deliver the ultimate Fantasy Life experience to all of you is almost here! Get ready for it!