With the DmC Devil May Cry Definitive Edition finished, developer Ninja Theory isn’t planning on creating anything else for the Devil May Cry IP, with Product Development Manager Dominic Matthews telling God is a Geek:
We’re not working on anything else DmC related, nor is anything planned. Devil May Cry is Capcom’s IP, so whether they draw a line under DmC is up to them.
Seeing the Definitive Edition as a “no-brainer” since it allowed them to revisit the game and improve it, Matthews says, “There is a lot in Definitive Edition that is there because the community asked for it.”
With the studio currently working on Hellblade for the PlayStation 4 and PC, Matthews talked about the challenges of creating a new AAA IP in today’s market:
It is very difficult to create a new IP in the AAA market right now. The sheer number of players that a $60 game has to be sold to in order to be justified means that only the safest of bets will be placed by publishers. Players want more creativity in their games, more genres and more new IP, but the reality is that an established IP comes with an audience whereas a new IP has to build one from scratch. New AAA IP has to be backed to a phenomenal level to stand a chance and there aren’t many publishers willing to do that in the current market.
The difference between Hellblade and any AAA development is that we’re attempting to deliver AAA quality but under an independent model. We have a far smaller budget and a far smaller team. But because our costs are lower we don’t have to sell to millions of people to justify the investment. Hellblade needs to sell around 300,000 copies for it to break-even vs the many millions that a $60 retail AAA game needs to sell in order for the development costs alone to be covered.
Next up for the Devil May Cry franchise is the Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition this Summer.
[Source: God is a Geek]
