Capcom On Ninja Theory: 'Those Guys Are Style Incarnate'

Capcom's Hideaki Itsuno on Ninja Theory, Nico, and the difference between Dante and Nero.

[ApocalypseShadow]

No. Platinum Games(formally Clover Studios) are style incarnate. Devil May Cry had style before Ninja Theory touched it. And the head of NT said Devil May Cry had no style originally.
https://www.google.com/amp/...

**But, you know, what was cool 12 years ago – I think that was when the first game came out [It actually came out nine years ago for PS2 – JC] – isn’t cool any more.**

Will never play his version of what cool is supposed to be. They can make a fun game yes. But who decides what's cool and stylish or not? I can have the same opinion that his style is not cool. And its sales reception showed most of us didn't care for it. The changed gameplay and the look.

[LgbtWarrior]

The only person you’re hurting is yourself because it is a phenomenal game. you’re exactly the type of gamer who spreads negativity without ACTUALLY playing the game. Sad n toxic.

[ApocalypseShadow]

Has nothing to do with being bought by Microsoft. I liked and still have heavenly sword. I didn't like what they came up with for devil may cry. I think the story, the gameplay and the look stinks. The foul language stinks.

You might think it was cool. I didn't. That's why they call it opinions. Changing something doesn't mean everyone is going to like it. You might have liked the last fantastic four remake or ghost busters. I didn't. Maybe the new DMC is for the new gamers that likes ninja theory's version. I liked the old stories of devil may cry, the gameplay and how they looked.

Not hurt. Just won't ever play it. Not buying something doesn't mean I'll miss it. GOW fits the bill very well. So did ninja gaiden.

[Jinger]

@apocalypse

He never said anything about them being bought by Microsoft as the reason... you brought that up out of the blue. You sure it doesn't have you feelin some sort of way?

[ApocalypseShadow]

King noctis mentioned it below. I was answering him as well without having to post two comments.

I didn't buy any of their games after heavenly sword. Don't care that they were bought by MS. How could I be upset about their purchase when I didn't buy their next games before it happened. Or the vr game they made a long time ago.

You guys read into it. I don't like the direction it took. Rather it have been a story about Mundus rise to power and the legendary dark night sparda eventually opposing him. And maybe see Dantes mom kick some butt and show how she maybe swayed him to join the human fight.

I bet you hideki kamiya's game would have been better than DMC. HE CREATED THE CHARACTER with the rest of his team. And his combat system would have been better than ninja theory's. It's like saying you like metal gears direction after Hideo Kojima. That would be ridiculous.

Bayonetta is better and more stylish even though it's now locked to nintendo.

[IamTylerDurden1]

DmC wasn't phenomenal, it was adequate. There was nothing about the game design that screamed "phenomenal". Even combat felt less smooth and stylish, especially with the mediocre framerate. I would also put many devs ahead of Ninja Theory in terms of style/art direction.

Suda51/Grasshopper

Team ICO

Kojima

Platinum

From Soft/Miyazaki - the boss designs and Bloodborne alone catapult them ahead.

Irrational - granted they split, but the Bioshock franchise puts them on the list. System Shock 2 as well.

That Game Company

SuperGiantGames

Speaking of style, Alice Madness Returns was immaculate, it's a shame Spicy Horse disbanded. Incredible art direction. Though, supposedly art was outsourced. Idk? Whoever was art director on that game killed it. Although American Mcgee likely had a huge influence on the art design.

[ULTp0ltergeist]

@Apocalypse Who are you people? I can't wait for the day when console exclusives are dead so we can focus on talking about games only.

[GameBoyColor]

"But i got a bigger dick" -new dante

[Quatron]

First off, take your millennial-level buzzwords elsewhere you brainless roach.
Second off, learn to get better taste than this drivel that didn't even sell well.

[King_Noctis]

Why is the sudden hate on Ninja Theory? Because they join MS?

[Platformgamer]

no one hates ninja theory because of that, they made good games exept hellblade that is a mediocre boring game.
what will they do under microsoft wing is unknown, i hope good games so i can re-use my xbox one S after months of inactivity

[NecrumOddBoy]

It's more sad that Ninja Theory went exclusively to a platform that not only disrespects their developers and controls their creative freedons, but has a minimal amount of users who do not play the types of games NT creates. I worry for Ninja Theory's future.

[Moe-Gunz]

HellBlade was awesome. I will say the combat could have been deeper but it was a very good and interesting game. NT are talented.

[BushLitter]

I love Ninja Theory, and am so sad that they're exclusive to MS now. Sony should have bought them when they had the chance. Will probably end up getting an Xbox next gen just to play whatever the fuck it is they make next.

DmC was an excellent game, my favourite from all of the others. I was amazed to see that the interviewee was of a somewhat similar opinion.

[jeremyj2913]

Not sudden. They have been looked at in a negative light by most hardcore Devil May Cry fans since DmC and especially Tameem's attitude towards said fans.

[Hedstrom]

Yes! Alot of Ninja Theory's fans are playstaion owners, hence the dissapointment that they sold out to MS and they cant play their games no more.

[IamTylerDurden1]

King Noctis

Ninja Theory is receiving backlash because during their entire career and particularly the development of Hellblade they preached the importance of quality independent developers. They preached about creative freedom and even coined the term "Independent AAA". They acted like they were all about creative freedom and independence and they launch an enormously successful independent game only to immediately be bought out by one of the most controlling publishers in the industry. They now work for a publisher that doesn't respect the style of game that they make, marketing to about 1/3 the potential audience, to an audience that doesn't traditionally buy sp games. It just seems hypocritical to sign with Microsoft after everything both Ninja Theory and Microsoft have said about sp games and independent development. Obviously the money took precedent over everything else, which is sad, because Hellblade was a success that should've emphasised the fact that they can be a successful independent studio.

[gangsta_red]

@iamtyler

Maybe you should watch this...

https://youtu.be/vIxWgVOCex...

That enormously successful independent game was successful but the road to get there was paid for in outsourced grunt work, because they still didn't see a lot of success with their past games...even to this audience that you believe they best catered too.

"It just seems hypocritical to sign with Microsoft"

Even though MS never said they were against sp but you've been told and shown this numerous times but still like to keep that false narrative alive here on n4g. Cute.

"Hellblade was a success that should've emphasised the fact that they can be a successful independent studio."

Definitely watch the video Tyler and then maybe you can have a little more insight on the behind the scenes of this industry instead of sideline commentating on what you personally think you know.

[Quatron]

Where the hell have you been for the past 5 years idiot?

[gamer7804]

OR, both platinum games and ninja theory both have style... doesn't have to be one or the other.

[Sevir]

LOL you all are still upset about a game that came out nearly 7 years ago?
The game sold well enough 2-3 million, roughly what most DMC games sell life time.

[FallenAngel1984]

I do see some DmC influences in DMC5

[Eiyuuou]

Yeah, but those are really minor.

[Nano_predator]

some ? .. more like 80% of the game

[Eiyuuou]

More like 8%.

[Concertoine]

What exactly did they take from DmC. Genuine question...

And don't say Nero's haircut.

[DangerousDAN]

Yeah, even Nero looks like DmC Dante.

[Segata]

He looks like Nero with shorter hair.

[Enturax]

@Segata
Nothing about his face or hair resembles his DMC4 version. Dante? Yes. But not Nero.

[DangerousDAN]

@Segata i get it. You hate the reboot. It doesn't change the fact he resembles Dante from DmC.

[Segata]

I'm looking at Nero now in DMC4. They have the same face just different hair/outfit. DMC5 has modern graphics and a different art style but his face is pretty dead on to Nero's in DMC4.

[IamTylerDurden1]

I feel as though DMC4 had better style than DmC. Say what you want, but Dante was turned into a teenage D bag.

[RememberThe357]

That was exactly why I didn't even try to play the game. Dante is one of my favorite video game characters and the way they protrayed him still irritates me. Nothing against the game or Ninja Theory, but DMC will never be in any of my consoles. Pure unsensible dogma, that's me baby.

[-Foxtrot]

By making one of the worst dmc games that took a step back on almost all fronts? Yeah I really hope they never touch dmc again.

It wasn't DMC...it was a brand new IP for DMC slapped on the title.

[LgbtWarrior]

Your tripping if you think it’s the worst. Dmc 2 took that title. Yes it was a dmc game made tolerable and better.

[DarXyde]

I really didn't like DmC personally. I beat it and was done with it. Tried too hard to be edgy for my tastes. Didn't like the controller layout either. Had they treated it as its own title instead of as a reimagining of an established franchise, it might be better received. That aside, I just didn't like it.

I tend to get caught up in NT hype but I can't say I really liked any of their games. They do some cool things on a narrative level but I just don't like their titles. I couldn't get into Hellblade, Heavenly Sword, Enslaved, or DmC.

To each, their own.

That said, mechanically, DmC was pretty solid. I feel it was a better game than Devil May Cry 2 by miles, but that's also a low bar.

[-Foxtrot]

Huh that's odd...I didn't say it WAS the worst, I said it was ONE of the worst, implying more then one.

...

[Quatron]

I shouldn't have existed. Pure and simple.

[Platformgamer]

DmC was awesome, i liked the new take on dante (and vergil and mundus), loved kat so much, the modern demon theme is always a nice idea for me and above all i loved the gameplay, better than any classic DMC... and yes, i say it after having played and platinumed the first 3 games recently.
the hate for DmC is unjustified, i just advise the haters to take it as a parallel dimension story and actually learn to play it.
btw seems like that with DMC 5 they're taking notes from DmC about gameplay, mixing it with the 4th game, and that's a good thing, also i like the new nero look, because it's a jab to the rebbot dante haters, that have to gonna hate ahahah

[KaaF]

Dude, if you like DmC characters, wait til you see what I have for you in the garbage can, you're gonna love it.

[Platformgamer]

the hate for DmC characters is so stupid man, at least explain why they're garbage

[RememberThe357]

LOL
Cot damn!

[THC CELL]

They was failing and only way is to be bought. Ms are just been ms buying up company's and prob end up still failing em

[THC CELL]

suffered from financial troubles. Sony Computer Entertainment saved the team from bankruptcy, people forget that??

They was in trouble again n ran to ms

[Imalwaysright]

Saved them? How? Did Sony give them money out of the kindness of their heart? Also could you please provide a link where it states that the studio was in trouble and needed to be acquired in order to survive?

[Razzer]

Ninja Theory was in financial trouble four years ago before they started work on Hellblade. How did Sony save them?

"About four years ago, we very nearly disappeared as a company. Dozens, if not hundreds of developers like us were closing shop all around us. And we were told there was no future for developers like us: too big to be indie, too small to be truly AAA. We had to tell our team we were facing annihilation, and so we had to find another way.
We split our team of 100 people into several smaller teams which worked mostly on work-for-hire projects. These projects helped to fund our own original game, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. Our goal was to find a space between indie and AAA and to reclaim our creative independence. It took three years, a team of 20 people, and a budget of $10 million including marketing, but we did it. "

Sounds to me like they saved themselves.

https://www.polygon.com/e3/...

[THC CELL]

Really?? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/...

[Razzer]

That link says nothing about the team being saved from bankruptcy. That article, from 2005, says the team formed Ninja Theory when Sony hired them to make Heavenly Sword. You are all over the place on this. Really.

[IamTylerDurden1]

Imalwaysright & Razzer

Sony did indeed save Ninja Theory from financial ruin back around the launch of the PS3. It's known, there are articles about it. Check Ninja Theory's Wikipedia it's right there https://en.m.wikipedia.org/...

"Sony Computer Entertaining saved the team from bankruptcy by funding the development of Heavenly Sword."

You will also find information about how Ninja Theory had a bad experience working with Microsoft on Kung Fu Chaos, which is all the more surprising that they signed with them.

[Imalwaysright]

IamTylerDurden1

It was a brand new studio that was struggling to find a publisher for their game. Antoniades did say: "For a moment I started to lose hope there you can survive in this business" but he also said that the deal they made with Sony was "soul-destroyingly difficult" to make. Take from that what you will.

Bad experience with MS? If you really want to go there... from their wiki page that you wanted me to check: "The publishing team at Microsoft was described as "helpful", assisting the team in refining the game during its production. Yet Microsoft failed to market the game properly."

As for their experience with Sony: "Sony actively interfered with the game's development, diminishing the team's creative freedom It pressured them to produce a game that "fit in more with what a standard action-adventure video game should be". Many features were removed from the game during the final production stages to meet project deadlines"

And this is what Antoniades said after Team Ninja joined MS: "We want to be free from the AAA machine and make games focused on the experience, not around monetization. We want to take bigger creative risks and create genre-defining games without the constant threat of annihilation. We want to make our own games our own way, and not be told what to make and how to make it"

Taking in consideration the experience that Ninja Theory had with both publishers and Antoniades words, who do you think Ninja theory would choose if MS and Sony asked them the same day if they were open to join them as a 1st party studio?

[RememberThe357]

Just FYI none of the people who ran either company are in those same positions now. New teams, same names, new products. Let them be who they are now. Hopefully MS has the right people in place now, Sony clearly does.

[AK91]

No they aren’t, they are good at making thought provoking emotional games but in terms of making a stylish game with rad gameplay it’s not their strong suit

[bangoskank]

DmC was a blast to play, Ninja Theory are a super talented creative force. And, yes, it is very apparent there are DmC influences in DMC 5; as a master at game direction Itsuno recognized its strengths and drew on them.

[Razzer]

Incredible visuals have always been the crux of Ninja Theory games. There is no denying that. Heavenly Sword is still one of my favorite games on PS3.

[Shinox]

Oh so now people all of sudden praise DmC... the gaming community is full of fake hypocrites these days

[Eiyuuou]

No, they always liked it. The majority of people who dislike it are just tired of complaining about it now.

[GameBoyColor]

All the people praising it now forget how much of a shitshow that game was lol. And also how the damn director treated the fans, I'm still pissed about that

[Jrios355]

I'm one of the very few that is still hoping for a sequel to DmC: Devil May Cry, whether it's made by Ninja Theory, or another developer. I found it to be a great game with a lot of potential that wasn't given a chance due to the drastic change.

It's true that the developer made some questionable comments, but as for the gane itself, it was a blast to play, and deserves a second chance. Though I highly doubt that will happen, as much as I want it to.

[ShadowWolf712]

Dude, I played that game while watching a show, paid little attention at all, dropped combos, forgot to swap weapons during combat...

And I still got a style rank of A.

This game was watered-down, dumbed-down Devil May Cry.

[Jrios355]

Well that was from your personal experience. Me? I personally enjoyed working with other weapons, experimenting with new combos, and chaining together combos with other combos.

But to each their own experience, and to each their own view.

[Segata]

No, they are not. Platinum, From Software, Vanillaware is.

[IamTylerDurden1]

Ninja has developed some stylish games such as Hellblade and Heavenly Sword, but there are many studios i would put ahead of them in terms of style/art direction.

Suda51/Grasshopper - if ANYONE deserves the moniker "style incarnate" it's Suda51. Every game he's involved with is style for days.

Killer7
Killer Is Dead
No More Heroes
Let It Die
Shadow of the Damned

[Segata]

I love Grasshopper but to me their art has never really stood out that much.

[jeremyj2913]

Good article. Not sure why the focus for this title was on that small mention of Ninja Theory. It's not like he would say something negative about them anyway.

[gangsta_red]

I liked the combat and the level design of DmC by Ninja Theory but the humor was way too low brow and sometimes vulgar. But I did like the story for DmC and the setting.

The Japanese DMC definitely has way more style and better over the top absurd action that's laughable but in a good way.

DmC really did put a spot light on the differences on how western and Japanese devs handle action and story.

[Donnie81]

I think ninja theory is gonna do great things in the future. Very talented studio!

[IamTylerDurden1]

Are they though? https://www.youtube.com/wat...

While Hellblade and Heavenly Sword were beautiful with great art direction, other games from Ninja Theory were not so stylish.

Kung Fu Chaos - horrible character models and cheesy art direction. Awful style.

Enslaved - questionable character design and uninspired art imo.

DmC - while it had some style they fumbled the most important aspect stylistically....Dante.

[ShadowWolf712]

Enslaved WAS fun tho.

[ShadowWolf712]

Does Tameem have dirty photos of the President of Capcom or something? Why the hell does this company have such a boner for a watered-down, easy mode edgelord version of Devil May Cry?

[isarai]

Yes, i think the way they handeled DMC as far as sticking to it's design was pretty bad, but i don't think you could honestly deny that what they DID create was OOZING with style. I still stand by my opinion that if that game just released as it's own IP and had no ties to DMC but retained all it's design and attitude, it would have extremely well praised. I mean god damn from color pallets to architecture that game was a feast for the eyes.

[AnubisG]

I know, right? Nothing is cooler than smoking.... oh wait, we are not in the early 90's anymore? Damn.