Capcom said it was “always looking for opportunities to create a new ōkami”, but it needed “some key figures”

Announcement at the Game Awards in December last year Sequel to 20-year-old ōkami Surprisingly, not only because of the age of the original game, but also because of its popularity. While many people think Capcom thinks the original game is a commercial failure, our recent interview with the project shows that Capcom has emerged in the value of ōkami and has been waiting for the right opportunity since then.

Over the years, the impression of ōkami struggling comes from many sources. Back in 2006, we Reports say 270,000 copies have been sold On PlayStation 2, in exclusive releases on the system, this is not a milestone for major publishers. Some people also suggest Various Interview With key team members, ōkami's lack of sales success has contributed to the closure of developer Clover Studio to some extent.

However, over time, ōkami's fate has changed. Since its launch, it has been released on many other platforms, and each new port is gradually increasing awareness and sales. 4.6 million In all different versions, including HD. The long tail is unusual for the game, as Capcom producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi pointed out in our recent interview with him:

“I especially know that people still like this game, just by looking at it. Usually, when we look at the game, sales slow down and steadily drop. Sometimes they jump down, but usually they go down. But ōkami, we Seeing this has always been a stable person, so ōkami is a very, very unique IP.”

As a result, Hirabayashi said Capcom has been thinking about ōkami's sequel for some time. But, as Hirabayashi explains, publishers “need to have certain key characters” and “it took some time for all stars to keep all stars consistent”. He all hints at the engineering of the mechanical head, including many ōkami veterans including Kiyohiko Sakata, and director Hideki Kamiya, who left Capcom to establish Platinumgames in 2006, recently left in 2023, heading to 2023 in 2023 Clovers was built, and he was building Clovers, where he was working on the Kami sequel. Capcom and machine head work.

As for Kamiya, he said he always wanted to do the ōkami sequel. But while he had an idea in his mind for years, he told us that he didn't think of his own studio and worked on ōkami. Capcom's desire to revisit IP was a key factor in his decision, but there was one last key: the dedication of ōkami fans. Just as the great God Amaterasu praises, the ōkami sequel is attributed to the ongoing and growing love for the original game:

“Hearing all the cheers from the fans push me,” Kamia told Ig. “Back to PS2, PS3, PS4, Switch, and then the later version of the game, we can always see, fans like it The merchandise is always there. Spread among fans.

“So, with everyone’s cheers and the desire we create, that’s what makes us realize this project. So without everyone’s voice and without everyone’s cheering us, we won’t move forward . So thank you very much.”

You can catch up with us A complete interview with the clues of the ōkami sequel here.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior journalist at IGN. You can find her post on bluesky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Is there a story tip? Send it to [email protected].