Capcom closes old studio, opens new one

TOKYO--Capcom announced today that it will be establishing a new studio by splitting a part of its current research and development division. Called Clover Studio, the studio is scheduled to launch on July 1 and will be located in Osaka, where Capcom's headquarters is located.

The president of Clover Studio will be Atsushi Inaba, producer of Viewtiful Joe and Steel Battalion. Capcom will retain all 1,800 shares of stock that Clover Studio will issue when it goes into operation.

Capcom explains that its decision is a part of the reorganization that began back in late 2002. The company hopes that spinning off a part of its development division into a separate company will bring more originality to its products, thus leading to higher profits and better brand recognition.

Ironically, the Clover Studio announcement comes just days after the publisher closed another of its internal developers. On Friday, news came that Capcom was shuttering its Tokyo studio, which was home to its PC development team and Production Studio 6, the creators of the poorly received Chaos Legion.