The latest Weekly Famitsu magazine has an interview with Hiroshi Matsuyama, CEO of CyberConnect2, which is most famous for producing the .hack RPG series and developing the Naruto Ultimate Ninja fighting game series. In this interview, Matsuyama commemorates the 22nd anniversary of CyberConnect2 by announcing the company’s next plan for the next ten years, while also giving an update on the status of Project Venom, which had no new information since it was first revealed in April 2016.
Matsuyama announced Project C5, where CyberConnect2 will make the winning concepts of an in-company competition into actual games. Out of 100 entries, the company picked three winners, which are as follows:
- Fuga of the Battlefield
Keywords: War X Revenge X Animal
A title that takes place in the same Little Tail Bronx world as CyberConnect2’s established IP Tail Concerto. The area looks similar to Solatorobo, but the story of Fuga of the Battlefield will take place before that game.
While this game is slated to be a strategy RPG game, it will also have shooting action and roguelike features.
Currently, they are writing the game design document for this game. - Tokyo Ogre Gate
Keywords: Schoolgirl X Revenge X Steampunk
A schoolgirl who has a mechanical heart stands up for revenge. This parkour action game will take place in a fictional empire capital named Tokyo (written in a totally different kanji from the real-life Tokyo “eastern capital;” this one is comprised of “sword” and “evil”). It will have varying scroll directions depending on the stage, from sideways, forward, to backward.
Currently, they are preparing designs for the basic settings of this game. - Cecile
Keywords: Gothic Lolita X Revenge X Witch
The protagonist girl lost her voice due to a witch ritual. Her other 3 sisters also lost husband, both legs, and body respectively. Now the sisters will have a battle royal to fight for the heart organ in this 2.5D action game.
Right now they are making imageboards and storyboards for the character motions.
As for Project Venom itself, Matsuyama confirms that it is currently being put on hold. It couldn’t match up with the current C5 project, and the person in charge of it is currently working as a director for another unspecified major title. Once the aforementioned games have been released, CyberConnect2 can consider restarting progress of Project Venom.
[Sources: Famitsu, Ryokutya, Alternator]
