Director reflects on Dragon’s Dogma 2: ‘I didn’t make a Nintendo game designed to be liked by everyone’

Dragon’s Dogma 2 director Hideaki Itsuno has reflected on the sequel, saying he’s proud of the game but that he’s not surprised to see a mixed reaction from some players.

The RPG sequel was Itsuno’s last game at Capcom, after more than 30 years at the company. The Devil May Cry series director left Capcom last year, before establishing the Tencent-backed Lightspeed Studios Japan.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 received a strong critical reception from reviewers when it released last year, though it didn’t resonate with every player. Notably, the game has a Metacritic score of 86, compared to a user score of 6.5.

Speaking to VGC in his first media interview since leaving Capcom, Itsuno said he wasn’t surprised that the game didn’t have universal appeal, since he designed it that way.

“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 said he ultimately decided to leave Capcom because he didn’t want to continue making sequels to Devil May Cry and Dragon’s Dogma, and that he felt the offer to create an original AAA game at Lightspeed could be “my last big opportunity”.

Itsuno is now building a ‘triple-A action game’. Earlier this week, Lightspeed announced the opening of a second Japanese studio in Osaka – the hometown of Capcom – and the hiring of several other Devil May Cry and Street Fighter veterans.

“For me, based on my age, this is my last chance,” Itsuno told VGC. “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.”

Itsuno suggested he’d decided to leave Capcom during the development of Dragon’s Dogma 2, but stayed until development on the title was completed.

“I held several talks while I was working on Dragon Dogma 2, but at that time, I didn’t even think of leaving while making the game,” he said. “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.”