Since being unveiled at the Tokyo Game Show, the Devil May Cry overhaul of the game Dante, has been met with wide criticism.

According to Capcom VP, the design change was necessary for the game’s new setting. The game’s developers at Ninja Theory have said that Capcom put pressure on them to make Dante “crazier”.

Capcom Vice President of Strategic Planning and Business Development Christian Svensson said: “The original concepts that came back for Dante were actually extremely close to the Dante everyone knows and loves. The feedback that came back from [Keiji] Inafune and [Hideaki] Itsuno was, ‘No guys, this needs to be completely different.’”

Mr. Svensson added that Capcom was aware of the fan backlash it would provoke, but says that it was “all part of the plan”. He insists that part of the strategy was to create that discussion and dialogue, which he believes drastically raises the visibility of the title versus if we had just done another Dante.

Mr. Svensson stresses that DMC is an origin story, so the most recent version introduces fans to Dante before they knew who Dante was. This is supposed to explain the widespread changes along the way, which he hopes fans will accept.