Capcom has finally given some insight into the annoucement that Devil May Cry 4 would go to PC and Xbox 360 as well as PS3. The game’s producer, Hiroyuki Kobayashi, spoke with Famitsu Xbox 360 regarding the loss of exclusivity.
Kobayashi actually seems to be positive as opposed to troubled about the change (though we don’t know how much pressure Capcom has exerted on his “opinion”). On the multiplatform decision, Kobayashi remarked, "so there was of course the business decision that we couldn’t exclude the Xbox 360. We’re using an engine called Framework for development, and it’s extremely easy to have a multiplatform strategy including the PC. You can say that Devil May Cry 4 is the first such offering. With the increase in platforms, we have the chance of more people being able to play the game, so we’re also happy as developers."
On the title appearing on the Xbox 360, he said, “The game engine is shared, so compared to previous hardware, I believe it’s easy. However, we’ve just started with the Xbox 360 version following the announcement, so there’s still a ways to go." Perhaps this is the reason for the supposed delay of the simultaneous release of Devil May Cry 4 across all platforms.
It also appears that neither platform will have exclusive content or material of any kind. "The content will be exactly the same," said Kobayashi. "Regardless of which one you buy, you will be able to get the same enjoyment. What’s different is perhaps the shape of the controller and graphic peculiarities for each hardware. We wanted to avoid arguments about which one is better."
Changing from the subject of multiplatform, Kobayashi was questioned on the progress made since last year’s debut at the Tokyo Game Show. “I believe progress is on the positive side of things,” he says, “but this is the team’s first time with next generation hardware development, so we are faced with a variety of problems and concerns. Clearing those is difficult."
Kobayashi did reconfirm that DMC4 will run at 60 frames per second, a staple of the DMC series. The development team has set the framerate as a goal, and although Kobayashi says it’s a difficult goal to reach, they are confident in their abilities to do so.
Finally, on the subject of a release date, Kobayashi sort of dodged the question. However, he did confirm that an advanced build of the title would be appearing at TGS 2007 in September, so perhaps DMC4 will see a 2007 release after all.