Capcom US, Japan's creative relationship with UK's Ninja Theory
DmC: Devil May Cry represents Capcom's focused, intentional effort to add western flair to a traditionally Japanese-styled game, left in the care of UK-entrenched studio Ninja Theory. Both Capcom Japan and US left the westernization entirely in Ninja Theory's hands, only providing advice on the game's core essentials and at times making strong suggestions about characters and controls. Otherwise, Capcom took a hands-off approach to the game's modernization.
Among three branches of two studios in three disparate areas of the globe, creating anything successfully – let alone a new, yet familiar game in a popular franchise – was bound to be frustrating. According to Capcom producers Motohide Eshiro and Alex Jones, it certainly was stressful working with Ninja Theory, but it was also successful.
Read their thoughts on Ninja Theory and the international DmC development process below.
Motohide Eshiro, Capcom Japan
"Our role working with Ninja Theory is as the stewards of, or the keepers of, the Devil May Cry series," Eshiro said. "It comes down to communicating what it is we're after, what is that we feel is essential to the series itself. We've done this largely with Itsuno-san, the director of 2, 3 and 4, working with Ninja Theory and getting down to the nitty gritty of what the Devil May Cry series is really about. Finding a way to link that up with what Ninja wants to do creatively has been a challenge. A lot of the concepts we discuss can be rather abstract, so at times it's tough to get our point across. Luckily these guys, because they are creative people, have done a good job of meeting us half way and understanding what it is we're after. We've got some really good results. It's not been an easy process – communicating never is – but we're happy with what we've been able to do."
Alex Jones, Capcom US
"From my perspective, they've been great to work with. They have a reverence for the franchise, which is one of the major reasons they shot to the top of the list, in addition to their great ability to tell stories and narrative. They've been remarkably flexible. At Capcom we can be exacting taskmasters, and we've met our match in terms of they're pretty exacting and caring about quality too. It's refreshing to work with a group whose passion for perfection as they see it equals or exceeds your own. We're a really tough audience and NT has worked well. They've taken feedback constructively, they've offered it constructively. Obviously in any creative endeavor there's going to be some disagreements but they've all been hashed out in goodwill. It's one of the best relationships I've ever had with an external developer, and I've been doing this for 15 years. They've been great."
