Effective next month, Hideaki Itsuno, will leave Capcom to create “a new game in a new environment”, saying that he hopes to “create fun, beautiful games that are as memorable as, even more memorable than, the ones I have created so far.”
Itsuno’s resignation comes after working for Capcom for over thirty years, directing several best-selling titles, including taking over the Devil May Cry franchise from Hideki Kamiya and Shinji Mikami, starting with Devil May Cry 2.
Itsuno effectively saved Devil May Cry. After the success of the first game in the series in 2001, which started as an offshoot of Resident Evil 4, Capcom greenlit a sequel that had production troubles from the start. It wasn’t until Itsuno stepped in to be the game’s de-facto director that the game finally got made. Afterward, he’d go on and release several best-selling titles for Capcom, starting with Devil May Cry 3 and, most recently, the critically acclaimed Dragon’s Dogma 2, which faced optimization issues at launch that was rumored to be because of a rushed timeline.
The reasons behind Itsuno’s departure remain unclear, but it’s speculated that he’s leaving because of the creative restraints Capcom has placed on him over the years. Thus, it ends a decades-long tenure that leaves the fate of Devil May Cry 6 unknown.
Itsuno’s resignation from Capcom can only mean that he’s finished working on his latest project, which, in this case, is Dragon’s Dogma 2. Unless Capcom has stressed him to the point that he’s leaving Devil May Cry 6 mid-development, the likelihood is that any work he needed to complete for Dragon’s Dogma 2 is finally over, allowing him to pursue something different, aka not Devil May Cry 6.
Devil May Cry 5 wrapped things up perfectly for the franchise’s future. It showed the overarching villain and the main hero team up and do what they love, take names, and kill demons as they find themselves stuck in the deepest parts of Hell. This isn’t the first time the sons of Sparda have found themselves in this situation, which is probably the game’s way of saying that they’ll no longer be the focus of the franchise going forward, at least for the next game, save maybe for the occasional co-op battles where you play as one or both of the Nephilim brothers.
After attempting to introduce Nero as a new protagonist in Devil May Cry 4 and, in between, failing to reboot the franchise with DmC: Devil May Cry, Devil May Cry 6 could finally double down on taking the franchise in a new direction—without disrespecting the millions of Dante fans.
Having successfully established Nero’s connection to the Sparda line as the son of Vergil, the nephew of Dante, and the grandson of Sparda, fans might finally be ready to embrace a new face for the series going forward.
If this is too much of a risk for Capcom, they could always take a page out of Sony and Techland’s book by releasing a standalone title featuring Nero alone. If nothing else, this would be the perfect audition for the next series’ director as they try to figure out where to take the franchise next.
Either that, or they could do a Devil May Cry 0 and show us Sparda in his heyday in a similar standalone title—the series’ overarching protagonist has never really had a chance to flex his muscles all these years despite playing a major role.
A Devil May Cry game with minimal Dante and Virgil might feel different, but it isn’t entirely a bad thing. Besides, putting these two in the background isn’t the same as replacing them entirely.
We don’t know Itsuno’s future plans, but judging from what ex-Capcom developers usually do after leaving the company (think Shinji Mikami and The Evil Within or Hideki Kamiya with Bayonetta), we might be due for a spiritual successor to the franchise that could very well compete with Devil May Cry 6.
