Devil May Cry 5 director Hideaki Itsuno's new studio is developing a game that aims to bring together everything he has created so far, but don't expect to see any Soulslike elements.
Character action game sickos of the world will know that the last few years have been particularly rough. Promising-looking projects like Stellar Blade or Black Myth: Wukong look incredibly stylish, only for the combat to be more on the soulslike side of things, with nary an air juggle in sight. In fact, other than Platinum Games' Bayonetta 3 (which was a bit of a letdown), the last big boost action games got was Devil May Cry 5 in 2019.
After releasing one of my favorite 2025 games, Dragon's Dogma 2, director Hideaki Itsuno - who also worked on Devil May Cry 2 - 5 - left Capcom to form his own studio. But from the sounds of things, the debut title from Lightspeed Studio could deliver us from soulslike purgatory. He also announced that Devil May Cry writer Bingo Morihashi, art designer Daigo Ikeno, and legendary Capcom artist Bengus have joined the studio alongside him.
Speaking to VGC, Itsuno was asked about the oversaturation of soulslikes in the action game genre. He said, "I didn’t create a company to make a high-end version of existing games," adding, "I came to Lightspeed Studio to create an action game with a different value, gameplay than the existing ones. I appreciate their contribution, but I’m not going to create the same thing."
Itsuno was also asked if it's going to be strange to potentially compete with a potential Devil May Cry game if Capcom decides to move the series on. He said, "I’m extremely proud of Devil May Cry 5, and I don’t think I can improve on it, so competing with a new IP is going to be hard."
However, he notes that after Devil May Cry 4 and the original Dragon's Dogma, he "thought it was going to be impossible to create something better," so he's not too frightened at the prospect.
Itsuno also spoke to Famitsu (translated via Automaton), where he explained that the goal with his new IP at Lightspeed Studios is to "create a game that brings together the best of everything I’ve made so far." Citing the influence of Rival Schools with fighting game elements, the endless skill ceiling of Devil May Cry, and the AI of Dragon's Dogma 2.
And while it may be hard to create a character that's as iconic as Dante, Itsuno says, "Characters have always been a crucial part of my work, so I plan to invest a lot of effort into character creation."
