Comcept, the studio behind Mighty No.9, has shut down for good. This corporate dissolution was announced via Kanpo, the Japanese business newspaper-of-record earlier today.
The company, which was founded in 2010 by Mega Man lead Keiji Inafune, was eventually merged into Level 5 Comcept in 2017.
Years later in 2024, Level 5 Comcept was taken over entirely by Level 5 following Inafune’s departure from the company, becoming part of Level 5’s Osaka office. This final destruction of the Comcept brand today marks a true death for the ill-fated studio.
Despite its illustrious pedigree, Comcept was best known for the poorly-received Mighty No.9, which was funded via Kickstarter in 2013. Upon release, critics and fans alike had issues with its gameplay, narrative, technical performance, and lack of content among other things. You can read Eurogamer’s review of Mighty No.9
This news does spit on the foolish hopes of those still betting on receiving their Mighty No.9 3DS copies, for some reason. This was a Kickstarter stretch goal that was reached, but never actually produced despite over $4m in funding. Pre-orders for 3DS copies of Mighty No.9 were canceled last year so the chances of actually receiving this were close to nil. If you were praying for a miracle though, put your hands down.
Comcept wasn’t all bad. As part of Level 5 Comcept, the studio created Recore, which received middling reviews too. Ah well, rest in piece Comcept.