Devil May Cry’s Hideaki Itsuno joins LightSpeed Studios as the head of its new Japanese branch

Hideaki Itsuno, the legendary developer who reinvigorated the Devil May Cry franchise and created Dragon’s Dogma, recently announced that he was leaving Capcom after working there for over 30 years. After a few months of radio silence, he just announced the next chapter of his career.

On his personal Instagram account, Itsuno revealed that he is now the head of LightSpeed Japan Studio, a brand-new division of LightSpeed Studios, the company that made PUBG Mobile, which is owned by the enormous Chinese technology conglomerate, Tencent. In his post, Itsuno stated: “I’m confident we’ll create original AAA action game titles alongside our amazing team, delivering aesthetic and innovative experiences to players worldwide”.

LightSpeed Studios’ official website reveals that this new Japanese branch is based in Osaka and Tokyo and, like Itsuno revealed, its main focus is on developing high-quality AAA action games. The company’s president, Jerry Chen, said: “It is our great honor to have Hideaki Itsuno join LightSpeed Studios. The establishment of LightSpeed Japan Studio is a significant step in LightSpeed Studios’ expansion and demonstrates our commitment to bringing the best possible games to our players”.

After months of speculation, fans on Instagram reacted very positively to Itsuno’s announcement, since this confirms that he isn’t retiring and that he’ll keep making action games, which are his bread and butter. One notable figure who congratulated Itsuno is Johnny Yong Bosch, Nero’s voice actor in the Devil May Cry games, and Dante’s voice actor in the upcoming Devil May Cry animated series.

Hideaki Itsuno is perfect for LightSpeed Japan Studio

The main goal of LightSpeed Japan Studio is to develop original AAA action games, so it couldn’t have hired a more suitable person for this job than Hideaki Itsuno. After all (and as the studio proudly claims on its official website) Itsuno’s contributions to the action genre ended up changing the industry forever.

While he directed popular Capcom fighters like Power Stone and Rival Schools, what eventually put him on the map was his work on Devil May Cry 3: Dante’s Awakening, a fantastic hack & slash adventure that saved the franchise after the monumental failure that was Devil May Cry 2 (which Capcom made him direct years earlier). After working on Devil May Cry 4, Itsuno finally pitched Dragon’s Dogma to the company, a new IP that he created on his own. He later came back to Dante’s franchise, when he directed 2019’s Devil May Cry 5.

Over time, Itsuno became synonymous with dynamic and over-the-top hack & slash games with refined combat systems and incredible boss fights. So while his departure from Capcom was quite unfortunate – especially because it meant he would never work on Devil May Cry or Dragon’s Dogma again – his new position at LightSpeed Studio Japan gives him the chance to create something entirely new and special that has the potential to influence the industry as much as his previous works did. We just hope that Tencent and LightSpeed Studios will keep their promise and give Itsuno as much artistic freedom as he needs.