Capcom: “Western developers prioritise visuals over gameplay”

Devil May Cry director highlights difference between Western and Japanese development styles

Chris KempAugust 11, 2012

While Western developers such as Cliff Bleszinski have recently accused the Japanese of ignoring multiplayer functionality, Capcom has stated that Westerners are too focused on visuals, rather than gameplay.

In a recent interview, Devil May Cry director Hideaki Itsuno commented that for Western game developers, the project begins with visual design, whereas the Japanese start with gameplay systems. Itsuno was referring to Devil May Cry, comparing the approach of Japanese publisher Capcom and British developer Ninja Theory.

“Given our experience, it seems like with the West and Ninja Theory they focus on the visuals stuff at the beginning and then build the gameplay on top of that,” Itsuno explained.

“Whereas at Capcom Japan, we focus on the game logic and getting the systems down in the beginning then we gradually build the visuals on top of that.”

Itsuno doesn’t favour one approach over the other, but rather hopes to integrate the two styles for the development of the latest instalment in the Devil May Cry series.

“We’ve been trying to find a hybrid system where we take a best of both worlds approach. It hasn’t been easy, but I think we’re happy with the results we have.”

DmC Devil May Cry will be released on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 in January of next year, which will have players take the role of protagonist Dante in an alternate universe.