At the turn of the decade, Capcom decided to take their beloved Devil May Cry franchise in a new direction. This lead to the company deciding to reboot the franchise with the British studio Ninja Theory at the helm of development. This resulted in the release of DmC: Devil May Cry in 2013. The game was met with a positive response from critics, but fan reception was very mixed due to the direction the company took with the series.
It does appear that some within Capcom were also fond of the Ninja Theory developed reboot. This includes Hideaki Itsuno, the director of most of the Devil May Cry games, as well as Devil May Cry 5 producer, Matt Walker. In a recent interview with Walker by Slovakian website Sector, as translated by Feed4Gamers, he discussed the possibility of a sequel to the 2013 reboot. Walker mentioned that Capcom tried to start work on a sequel with Ninja Theory, but it “unfortunately didn’t get off the ground.” Walker also mentioned that a sequel would have to be made by Ninja Theory.
We’d still love to see a sequel, but we think it absolutely has to be made by Ninja Theory – so much of the amazing style and substance in that game was only possible because they have such a knack for what’s cool. It wouldn’t be DmC without Ninja Theory.
However, there is one major obstacle standing in the way between Capcom and Ninja Theory creating a sequel to DmC: Devil May Cry. Last year, during Microsoft’s E3 press conference, Phil Spencer announced that the company had purchased Ninja Theory along with three other studios.
Since the release of DmC: Devil May Cry, both Capcom and Ninja Theory have been successful. Capcom decided to take the Devil May Cry franchise back to internal development. This resulted in the release of Devil May Cry 5 in March which was met with acclaim from critics and fans alike. It was also the fourth best selling game in the U.S. during March. Ninja Theory, on the other hand, released the acclaimed Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice in 2017. Now that the studio is owned by Microsoft, it will be interesting to see what they do next.