Capcom producer Alex Jones has explained why the firm understood the initial reaction to Dante’s redesign upon the announcement of Ninja Theory’s Devil May Cry reboot. While fan reaction for the protagonist’s revamp isn’t as negative as it was a year ago or so, Jones understands the passion of the fan base that prompted the strong backlash.
In speaking with VG247, the producer for Capcom’s US division said:
Yeah, now it’s fine, but I could have done without having to fear for my life [laughs]. There was always going to be people who saw new Dante and who didn’t want it, and that’s fine. We understand – I understand – that people are passionate about it, so this isn’t a bad thing.
Being angry about it – yeah I get that – but we always said, ‘when you see the game and you play it, trust me, you’re going to understand that we were doing the right thing’. Now that’s happening, so yeah it’s vindication, but it’s not like smugly sitting back and going ‘ha ha’.
It’s more like, ‘We understand why you guys had doubts, and we knew that we had to prove this to you, and we were happy to do it.’ That was our responsibility.
Jones went on to explain the game’s tone:
One of the things about making a western game, we wanted to make the tone a little less campy, and a little more darker. It’s still got a sense of humour, but it’s just more appropriate in the world Dante is now in, where’s it’s less acceptable to make corny jokes and better to make darker ones.
He’s still irreverent, he’s still – at the end of the day – the guy who will kick your ass and drop a cool one liner afterwards.
DmC: Devil May Cry is due for a release on January 15th 2013 in North America and Europe.
