Devil May Cry 5 on Capcom’s mind. Devil May Cry 4 record sales of 2 million make plans all but certain

Devil May Cry 5 Xbox 360 fake boxartDevil May Cry 4 producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi said back at E3 2007 that he wanted to make Devil May Cry 5 if Capcom let him. This week Capcom president Haruhiro Tsujimoto announced in a press release that Capcom’s fiscal year 2008 sales increased to over 83 billion Yen ($806 million), in part thanks to Devil May Cry 4’s record sales of over 2 million units worldwide since its early February 2008 release, making it the fastest selling Devil May Cry game so far and taking the entire series from 7 to 9 million sold*. It now seems all but certain Capcom wants a sequel with Mr. Tsujimoto closing off the PR by saying “We hope to continue meeting and exceeding the expectations of gamers with our dedication to developing solid titles for the best gaming platforms available.”

To quote Capcom producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi’s words from last year: “Continuing the storyline is always possible. However, we do work under a corporate system, so unless Capcom gives us the green light to go ahead and continue on with releasing Devil May Cry 5, 6, 11, whatnot. It’s totally up to them.

However, personally I would like to continue with Devil May Cry and create more and more games for this franchise. Devil May Cry 4 has turned out to be a very cool-looking stylish game for those that have a PS3 or a [Xbox] 360. If you don’t buy Devil May Cry 4 you would think ‘Why didn’t I buy it?’ There’s no worth of having a PS3 or [Xbox] 360 without Devil May Cry 4. That’s the kind of game it’s going to turn out to be.”

Watch the full Gametrailers interview on video:

Maybe in the hack and slash, action game sequel they can explain the story behind the Devil Bringer!

Picture courtesy of VGboxart

* Devil May Cry series sales as of March 17, 2008:
Devil May Cry 1 sold 2.16 million
Devil May Cry 2 sold 1.7 million
Devil May Cry 3 sold 1.3 million
Devil May Cry 4 sales are at 2.3 million

Update May 2010: Heavenly Sword developer Ninja Theory has long been rumored to be working on a project in collaboration with Capcom. When Ninja Theory studio boss Tameem Antoniades was recently asked if the project was Devil May Cry 5, he said: “Well, there’s no way I’m gonna confirm or deny if we’ve got anything to do with it.” But it’s a good possibility with Capcom also recently announcing that any new IPs from them would be made in-house in Japan, with Western studios being brought in to do sequels.

Would make for a nice E3 2010 announcement mid-June, don’t you think?