"What do you mean by 'reboot'?"

#1ShakaVPosted 9/23/2010 12:54:47 AM
Motohide Eshiro: Well, taking Devil May Cry 4 as an example, including the PC versions we sold 2.7 million of that particular game, but we looked at the market and saw that there were other action games selling four million, five million, all these copies.

Credit to D?



In the end it's all about the money. The fail part about that statement, is that those action games selling four or five millions are not even the same type of game that devil may cry is. Making such comparison would be like comparing apples to oranges. I just don't see how changing the whole look and presentation of the DMC series will somehow allow them to double sales.

Did devil may cry 4 fail to reach those 4-5 million sales because casuals disliked the characters and overall presentation? Did they actually go and conduct a study and found out buyers of multimillion hits such as COD and GTA would be much more likely to buy DMC if it was more "westernized"? Is it just a gamble to see how the market reacts to such title?

I hate to say it, but it is probably impossible to get those type of sales on the hack and slash genre at the present time.
Sadly, the genre is nowhere as popular as it once was.

Using vgchartz as source:
Take two of the best hack and slash games of this generation: Ninja Gaiden 2+Sigma2 and Bayonetta. Sales for both titles combined across both platform amount to 3.28 Million. If two of the best hack and slash games cannot achieve what DmC is aiming to do, what makes Capcom think they can simply achieve this by making Dante look like a twilight reject/Tameem? Even Dante's inferno, a game that by definition should appeal to the west sold only 1.25 million.

If Capcom is not satisfied with their 2.7 million copies sold of the game, how does Sega feel knowing Bayonetta only sold half of that. By those standards there would never be a Bayonetta 2 or Ninja gaiden 3.

Devil may cry 4, although a good game had it's flaws. One of its major flaws, was that the game forced the player to backtrack through previous areas as dante, which IMO was a cheap way to artificially lengthen the game. This of course affected the reviews, and ultimately sales as many gamers look at reviews before they make their purchases.

Rather taking devil may cry back to its origins and changing the whole presentation, Capcom should 've gone with Devil may cry 5. Increase the budget of the game, increase development time and address the flaws of its predecessor. Give Dante the screen time he deserves, some worthy opponents, and a good complex story (this is an aspect they could've westernized). They should not expecting to sell as much as a god of war 4, as that game had the backing of Sony and development costs were probably much greater.

By drastically "westernizing the game" they are taking fans of the series for granted. They do not only risk alienating western fans of the series, but eastern fans of the series who are not too fond of "western" hack and slash games. Although Dante has been changed throughout the series 1 through 4 (never played 2), I've always felt the character's essence was there. I simply do not get that same vibe from the Dante in the new DmC trailer.

If Capcom really wanted a pie of the 5 mil sellers, perhaps they should've opted for DMC: Tameem warfare instead?

End Wall of text
#2TheOriginalMaxPosted 9/23/2010 4:54:01 AM
Good post.
Also I wanted to point out that the whole reason behind renaming it DmC(not DMC5), rebooting, changing the way Dante looks and doing an origin story is to kind of "fool" new people into thinking it's an entirely different game.
With that, their idea is to see more sales from the mainstream crowd while the old crowd still buys the game.
It's a win-win situation for them, UNLESS DmC doesn't sell as much as they think this change would sell.
To be fair, no one has unlimited patience, and at times this board could come close flustering the Buddha.-geekneck99
Patience is a virtue but I'm a sinner.
#3egpNoodlezPosted 9/23/2010 4:59:58 AM
I wonder how many people don't realise DMC is already out there though. Most action gamers would likely have heard of it, even Jaffe himself has talked about it and how he (in a joking manner of course) "ripped off DMC's gameplay and action" (I'll admit, the guy's got good humour and does Twisted Metal, double win).

In any case, I just don't see what kind of action gamer hasn't already heard of Devil May Cry series, and exactly what new audiences (other than the obvious joke ones like Twilight fans and free roam action enthusiasts like fans of Prototype) this DmC will gather. I don't see how this is a win-win for Capcom at all, I think at best they might be able to keep the fanbase at about equal numbers, otherwise people are going to turn off in favour of Kamiya's games from now on, since Itagaki went off Team Ninja to go head up Valhalla Knights (go Devil's Third!!).
#4TheOriginalMaxPosted 9/23/2010 5:16:33 AM
I really doubt that. Especially in Europe most people I've talked with have never heard of DMC.
Besides, not everyone reads up on game news, so there is indeed a probability that there are people who have never even heard of this or given it a chance because of the Japanese game style.
Not to mention teens who have been too young to play DMC before, or just not interested.
It is indeed easy to fool people, you have your short black haired, black and red coat wearing, dual gun and whip wielding teen compared to your semi-long white haired, red and black trench coat wearing dual gun and sword wielding adult, not to mention this game being called DmC and not DMC5.
I still hope my worries are wrong, but the evidence kinda speaks for the worries.
Patience is a virtue but I'm a sinner.
#5YomigaeruPosted 9/23/2010 6:39:42 AM
I still don't see the need to "reboot" a series that has neither a complicated backstory, nor a large library. This is only the fifth game in the series (not counting the two "versions" of DMC 3), and it only just began on the previous generation of consoles.

I can understand them wanting to reboot Castlevania, but not this. Quite frankly, I didn't care too much for DMC 4, so I'm not terribly interested in this one. The new image for Dante isn't doing anything to sway me, either. As far as Capcom's showing at TGS, Asura's Wrath has me infinitely more interested than this.

However, for you DMC fans out there, I hope this one turns out good for you. The second title was a bit of a speed bump, so we really don't need another in the series.
#6Crossel777Posted 9/23/2010 6:49:14 AM

Oh ok then it is Dante so say it Capcom. That makes things even worse.

#7LeonSK357Posted 9/23/2010 7:46:17 AM
By my observations from interviews and such, so far the reasons for this unnecessary (and unwanted, IMO) reboot, are as follows:

1) Make the series more mature.
2) Make the game more 'modern and westernized'.
3) Give 'Dante' some nice origins.
4) Make money.

So here's what I don't get. They tried 1. It was called DMC2, and it didn't go well. As far as 2 goes, apparently 'modern' is defined by dressing like something straight out of Twilight and looking like the NT chief designer. 3 was already addressed with DMC3, so we know Dante's origins perfectly fine. And 4 can easily be solved by pulling their heads out of their arses, making a great game that will make the fans happy, and putting it out there. They make money, and they keep their fans, maybe even bring in more if they execute the game properly.
This is the internetz. Where the firewalls against logic are impenetrable and the only things that spread efficiently are viruses and stupid.
PSN: Leon50ae
#8Malus_X6Posted 9/23/2010 8:52:50 AM
This oughtta be renamed DMC: Emo Kid/Scenekid Edition
PSN: LordMalus
#9Stink_NastyPosted 9/23/2010 9:43:24 AM
It makes sense to do a reboot. the only origin story told to us by DMC3 was the origin of how he unlocked his devil powers, and how he opened his shop. They want to explore the character of Dante more, and give fans the reason for why he is the way he is.

COD didn't sell 5 million copies, it sold much much more than that. They ar referring to action titles such as GoW and Uncharted, other 3 person action adventure titles. They want DMC to be mainstream, the same way Kamiya wanted the combat in Bayo to be mainstream. Capcom is just trying to do the same thing and it's foolish to be mad at the for wanting to make money out of this.

I don't see anything wrong with them wanting to take this type of combat and make it mainstream.
Official Vergil of the DmC boards. -PSN: mdelrio344 XBL: Stinkk Nassty34
#10TheOriginalMaxPosted 9/23/2010 9:46:45 AM
Ok then, how isn't it possible to do it without sacrifices?
The TC made some really good points which you kinda didn't even answer or take into account.
Patience is a virtue but I'm a sinner.