Grasshopper Manufacture head Goichi Suda has expressed his regret over the lacklustre performance of Shadows of the Damned, admitting it can be difficult for a new IP to flourish without massive financial backing.
"Of course we always wish to have a big hit, but at the same time – not just in Japan, but worldwide – I think it’s really difficult to be successful with a new IP," said Suda, during a natter with Eurogamer.
"You really need an extraordinary amount of support to have a new franchise be successful. Unfortunately we couldn’t really do as well as we hoped for."
The developer then commented that if he was able to go back and change anything, he would have incorporated an online component.
"I had lots of ideas for online," revealed Suda. "If I could do it over again I would definitely include online features.”
"Every title you release you always want to do more and more but I think it is also our job as a developer to set up an environment where we can actually create what we want to do."
Shadows of the Damned, a collaborative project between Suda and Resident Evil mastermind Shinji Mikami, released back in June and barely dented the U.K. Charts upon release.
Things didn’t fare so well in the U.S. either, with the game only managing to flog 24,000 units during its first month on sale.