Devil May Cry 5 was sure to be a hit when it was released in 2019. Taking place five years after the events of Devil May Cry 4, the game follows three warriors with demonic powers–Dante, Nero, and V–as they attempt to stop the Demon King Urizen from destroying the world of humans. Players instantly fell in love with the new character V, while Dante and Nero had never looked better. In April, it was announced that five million copies had been sold. Today, the game passed the next milestone, with sales surpassing six million units.
Hideaki Itsuno directed the game, stating in interviews that he hoped the game would be his best work. Spending his entire career at Capcom, he also heads the Rival Schools, Power Stone, and Dragon’s Dogma series. The game’s plot was written by Bingo Morihashi, the novelist who previously worked on every other entry to the franchise. London was the inspiration for much of the game’s setting, while a number of different composers worked together to produce the game’s audio. Each of the three main characters has a theme, something which many players complimented.
Devil May Cry 5 won a number of game awards in both 2019 and 2020, including the Award for Excellence at the Japan Game Awards 2019, Best Visual Design at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards, Best Action Game at The Game Awards 2019, Camera Direction in a Game Engine at the NAVGTR Awards 2020, and Excellence in Gameplay at the 2020 SXSW Gaming Awards. It managed to sell over two million copies less than two weeks after its release and later became the best-selling game in the franchise to date. A light novel and manga have also been released.
In an interview with Polygon post-release, producer Matt Walker talked about fans’ love for Capcom and any recent changes in the industry.
“People on the dev side have always been trying to make what we think is cool, and hoping that it’ll find an audience. That’s really what it boils down to,” Walker said. “Always a lot of people working really hard, every day to try to make content that we hope players will really enjoy.”
Earlier this month, UDON announced that pre-orders for the exclusive version of the Devil May Cry 5: Official Complete Works artbook was available for preorder. The 256-page full-color book is filled with creator commentary, environment designs, character concepts, promo art, and much more.
Devil May Cry 5 was originally released on PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One in March 2019. An expanded version called Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition was released for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in November 2020 which included Vergil as a playable character. Players with copies on PS4, PC, and Xbox One can purchase Vergil as DLC.
