>>718069456
>It lingered in development hell so Inafune could misappropriate his funding.
I go back and forth, but I think you might be right, and it might be where Judd learned it. For King of Pirates, Marvelous poured millions into the game for years until they cancelled it. What if Inafune just took the money and used it to fund his studio and other projects while doing no god damn work?
The game was produced by "Intercept" which was in the same office as Inafune's other studios, employed the same people, but was legally distinct enough so that when things went tits up, no one could recover any money from them and they just filed bankrupsy.
That's what Gearbox Studios did with Colonial Marines with Sega, although they still half-assed a game to fufill their contractual oblications.
As long as you do not steal money, it's not a crime. Just drag out production, make sure you and your team clock tons of hours on the job, and keep the payment train coming. I think the AAA dev crisis in the west is similar. The devs realized they're cogs in the machine who are laid off once the game ships, so they have zero interest in actually completing a game. They just spin their wheels as long as possible.
