The E3 reveal of Devil's Third as a Wii U exclusive was quite muted. Unveiled during an IGN stream following the official Nintendo Digital Event, the news flew well below most people's radars. Now that we've had time to reflect upon the announcement, we wonder how the former Xbox 360 and PS3 shooter found its way into the family-friendly Nintendo ecosystem.
Creator Tomonobu Itagaki, former lead of Tecmo Koei's Team Ninja division which worked on Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden, spoke to Polygon to discuss his Valhalla Games Studios' first project, Devil's Third, and its four-year development road. The game was originally to be published by THQ, but the company's bankruptcy in 2012 meant the team needed a new partner.
Former senior vice president of creative development at THQ, Danny Bilson, who originally helped Itagaki get Devil's Third off the ground, was the man who later got Nintendo on board. Though Itagaki expected there to be some friction with Nintendo, he was surprised by how much he learned. As he explained to Polygon:
There are … cultural differences between the way that I've worked and the way Nintendo works, which is when it comes down to the basic grammar of games, the method of game creation. And so we certainly fought some, but I think that I saw the value in a lot of the ways that they do things and learned a great amount.
Now this is close to a trade secret so I can't say too much, but I feel like I learned the most fundamental meaning of what it means to push a button. When you tell someone, 'Push the A button,' there's a wealth of information there. And I feel like all of us who have worked on this project, as a result, have grown a bit.
About 90% of the game's concept remains unchanged from the original vision, but the remaining 10% has been streamlined by Nintendo for the better, according to Itagaki. Valhalla wants this to be a different kind of shooter, and perhaps Nintendo's involvement will do for Devil's Third what it is doing for PlatinumGames' Bayonetta 2.
Be sure to read the rest of the interview at Polygon. Meanwhile, we'll be sure to keep you updated on new announcements and potential release windows for Devil's Third.
