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Hideaki Itsuno, a Capcom veteran with credits on iconic games like the Devil May Cry series and both Dragon's Dogma entries, explains why he isn't able to produce the sorts of titles he'd like to: they're too "out there," apparently.
Itsuno, who most recently directed Devil May Cry 5 and Dragon's Dogma 2 before departing from Capcom to start work on his own "new project" – a mysterious AAA game – reveals as much in an interview with Famitsu (as later translated by Automaton). After confirming that his upcoming title was pitched by him directly and accepted without any problems, he states that he's not actually developing the kind of game he's always dreamed of making.
"Strictly speaking, no," admits Itsuno – and it all boils down to the fact that the market likely doesn't have space for such games. "I think the kind of games I'd most like to make probably wouldn't sell. They'd be too out there to be judged as commercially viable. I am well aware of this myself, so instead, I extract specific elements from those game ideas and combine them with elements I know from experience will work. That's how I'm building our new title.”
The former Devil May Cry and Dragon's Dogma adds, "Whenever I'm asked to propose new projects, I usually submit five or six ideas and mix in about two that I really want to do, but they never get chosen."
Sadly, Itsuno concludes that it's unlikely he'll ever attempt to develop any of these more "out there" ideas into full products – even later on down the line as part of any of his future games. They're simply too niche… and strangely unique, it sounds like.
I, for one, would love to know what "the kind of games I'd most like to do" actually means, so I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that whatever his new project does end up being has just a little bit of that odd flair he mentions.
