In a recent interview with VGC, Devil May Cry and Dragon’s Dogma director Hideaki Itsuno has stated that he is really proud of how Dragon’s Dogma 2 has turned out even though the game didn’t really resonate with a “certain type of audience.” Itsuno said that he intentionally designed Dragon’s Dogma 2 as a diametrrical opposite of “a Nintendo” title which has a much wider target audience and he’s perfectly fine with the game not being as liked by players outside of it’s core audience.
“I made the game not like a Nintendo one to be liked by all the people, but for a certain type of audience, so it’s normal if some people outside that target audience don’t like the game,” he said. “However, people who enjoyed the game really loved it, appreciated the details and work. I’m very proud of it.”
Itsuno also commented on his future project.
“For me, based on my age, this is my last chance,” Itsuno said. “The gaming industry has decreased the number of AAA releases, and I was asked to create a new AAA [by Lightspeed]. I’m not young anymore, so more than ‘now it’s the right moment,’ it’s more like, ‘this is my last chance’ to challenge myself.
“For Capcom, creating Devil May Cry and Dragon’s Dogma sequels is always going to be the top priority, and keeping in mind that making a game takes 4 to 5 years, this might be my last big opportunity.” He also added that while he “held several talks” with other studios when working on Dragon’s Dogma 2, he “didn’t even think of leaving while making the game.”
Itsuno concluded, “I wanted to finish it and after release, there still was some work to do, so I decided to go to the new studio once I was done with all of that.”
Besides Dragon’s Dogma, Hideaki Itsuno was also instrumental behind Capcom’s highly successful and iconic Devil May Cry series and his departure from the company has rightfully raised concerns on the future of DMC for a lot of players.
