{"id":51610,"date":"2025-09-02T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=51610"},"modified":"2025-09-02T18:02:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T09:02:26","slug":"former-devil-may-cry-director-hideaki-itsuno-isnt-making-his-dream-games-because-they-wouldnt-sell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-devil-may-cry-director-hideaki-itsuno-isnt-making-his-dream-games-because-they-wouldnt-sell\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Devil May Cry director Hideaki Itsuno isn\u2019t making his dream games because \u201cthey wouldn\u2019t sell\u201d\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Former Capcom veteran Hideaki Itsuno\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/devil-may-cry-5-and-dragons-dogma-2-director-hideaki-itsuno-will-make-original-aaa-action-games-at-new-lightspeed-japan-studio\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">new game studio LightSpeed Japan<\/a> is working on an AAA, singleplayer-focused action game targeting the global market. With the new title, Itsuno aims to <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/devil-may-cry-and-dragons-dogma-director-hideaki-itsunos-new-triple-a-action-game-combines-the-best-of-everything-hes-worked-on\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bring together the best of everything he\u2019s worked on so far<\/a>, specifically elements of Devil May Cry, Dragon\u2019s Dogma and the Rival Schools series. However, rather than an indulgent passion project, the work-in-progress game appears to be a reconciliation of Itsuno\u2019s personal tastes as a creator and game elements that work in a commercial sense.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Talking to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.famitsu.com\/article\/202508\/49057\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Famitsu<\/a> following the opening of LightSpeed Japan\u2019s new offices in Osaka, Itsuno confirmed that the new project he\u2019s directing was pitched by him personally and accepted without any major revisions by the company. However, when asked whether this means he\u2019s making the game he\u2019s always wanted to make, Itsuno says that\u2019s not really the case either.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cStrictly speaking, no. I think the kind of games I\u2019d most like to make probably wouldn\u2019t sell. They\u2019d be too <em>out there<\/em> to be judged as commercially viable. I am well aware of this myself, so instead, I extract specific elements from those game ideas and combine them with elements I know from experience will work. That&#8217;s how I\u2019m building our new title.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1428\" height=\"804\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1428px) 100vw, 1428px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250902-51610-001JPG.jpg\" alt=\"Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition\" class=\"wp-image-51615\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250902-51610-001JPG.jpg 1428w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250902-51610-001JPG-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250902-51610-001JPG-768x432.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Moreover, Itsuno adds that \u201cWhenever I&#8217;m asked to propose new projects, I usually submit five or six ideas and mix in about two that I really want to do, but they never get chosen.\u201d Based on his experience so far, he considers it unlikely that he\u2019ll attempt to develop these niche ideas into products later in his career.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2025, hearing the word \u201cpassion project\u201d inevitably brings to mind Too Kyo Games, who <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/interviews\/interview-the-hundred-line-last-defense-academys-devs-needed-players-to-think-they-were-completely-out-of-their-minds-to-compete-in-the-game-market\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">took a colossal gamble<\/a> to release The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy exactly the way they envisioned it. Although their struggle led them to success, <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/danganronpa-creators-are-risking-their-lives-for-their-upcoming-new-game-which-has-put-them-in-debt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">facing debt and near bankruptcy<\/a> during development is nothing to laugh at, and with market conditions as harsh as they are nowadays, Itsuno\u2019s approach of packaging his bolder ideas into more marketable frameworks seems like a wise one.\u00a0LightSpeed Japan\u2019s upcoming game is currently in its early prototyping stages. The release date and compatible platforms are TBD.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related article: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/devil-may-cry-4s-high-quality-pushed-bayonetta-to-greater-heights-according-to-hideki-kamiya\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>The high quality of Hideaki Itsuno\u2019s Devil May Cry 4 pushed Bayonetta to greater heights, according to Hideki Kamiya<\/strong><\/a><strong><\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Instead, Itsuno combines what he likes with what sells.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":51613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[64,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-51610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Former Devil May Cry director Hideaki Itsuno isn\u2019t making his dream games because \u201cthey wouldn\u2019t sell\u201d\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dragon&#039;s Dogma and Devil May Cry series director Hideaki Itsuno on why he doesn&#039;t pursue the games he&#039;s always wanted to make.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-devil-may-cry-director-hideaki-itsuno-isnt-making-his-dream-games-because-they-wouldnt-sell\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Devil May Cry director Hideaki Itsuno isn\u2019t making his dream games because \u201cthey wouldn\u2019t sell\u201d\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dragon&#039;s Dogma and Devil May Cry series director Hideaki Itsuno on why he doesn&#039;t pursue the games he&#039;s always wanted to make.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-devil-may-cry-director-hideaki-itsuno-isnt-making-his-dream-games-because-they-wouldnt-sell\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-02T13:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250902-51610-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1107\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"619\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Former Devil May Cry director Hideaki Itsuno isn\u2019t making his dream games because \u201cthey wouldn\u2019t sell\u201d\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Dragon's Dogma and Devil May Cry series director Hideaki Itsuno on why he doesn't pursue the games he's always wanted to make.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-devil-may-cry-director-hideaki-itsuno-isnt-making-his-dream-games-because-they-wouldnt-sell\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Former Devil May Cry director Hideaki Itsuno isn\u2019t making his dream games because \u201cthey wouldn\u2019t sell\u201d\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Dragon's Dogma and Devil May Cry series director Hideaki Itsuno on why he doesn't pursue the games he's always wanted to make.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-devil-may-cry-director-hideaki-itsuno-isnt-making-his-dream-games-because-they-wouldnt-sell\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2025-09-02T13:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1107,"height":619,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250902-51610-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amber V","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amber V","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-devil-may-cry-director-hideaki-itsuno-isnt-making-his-dream-games-because-they-wouldnt-sell\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-devil-may-cry-director-hideaki-itsuno-isnt-making-his-dream-games-because-they-wouldnt-sell\/"},"author":{"name":"Amber V","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9"},"headline":"Former Devil May Cry director Hideaki Itsuno isn\u2019t making his dream games because \u201cthey wouldn\u2019t sell\u201d\u00a0","datePublished":"2025-09-02T13:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-devil-may-cry-director-hideaki-itsuno-isnt-making-his-dream-games-because-they-wouldnt-sell\/"},"wordCount":420,"commentCount":8,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-devil-may-cry-director-hideaki-itsuno-isnt-making-his-dream-games-because-they-wouldnt-sell\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250902-51610-header.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["Game Development","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-devil-may-cry-director-hideaki-itsuno-isnt-making-his-dream-games-because-they-wouldnt-sell\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-devil-may-cry-director-hideaki-itsuno-isnt-making-his-dream-games-because-they-wouldnt-sell\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-devil-may-cry-director-hideaki-itsuno-isnt-making-his-dream-games-because-they-wouldnt-sell\/","name":"Former Devil May Cry director Hideaki Itsuno isn\u2019t making his dream games because \u201cthey wouldn\u2019t sell\u201d\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-devil-may-cry-director-hideaki-itsuno-isnt-making-his-dream-games-because-they-wouldnt-sell\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-devil-may-cry-director-hideaki-itsuno-isnt-making-his-dream-games-because-they-wouldnt-sell\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250902-51610-header.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-02T13:00:00+00:00","description":"Dragon's Dogma and Devil May Cry series director Hideaki Itsuno on why he doesn't pursue the games he's always wanted to make.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-devil-may-cry-director-hideaki-itsuno-isnt-making-his-dream-games-because-they-wouldnt-sell\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-devil-may-cry-director-hideaki-itsuno-isnt-making-his-dream-games-because-they-wouldnt-sell\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-devil-may-cry-director-hideaki-itsuno-isnt-making-his-dream-games-because-they-wouldnt-sell\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250902-51610-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20250902-51610-header.jpg","width":1107,"height":619,"caption":"Hideaki Itsuno"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-devil-may-cry-director-hideaki-itsuno-isnt-making-his-dream-games-because-they-wouldnt-sell\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Former Devil May Cry director Hideaki Itsuno isn\u2019t making his dream games because \u201cthey wouldn\u2019t sell\u201d\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9","name":"Amber V","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","caption":"Amber V"},"description":"Editor-in-Chief since October 2023. She grew up playing Duke Nukem and Wolfenstein with her dad, and is now enamored with obscure Japanese video games and internet culture. Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51610"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51616,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51610\/revisions\/51616"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}