Back at the end of August 2024, Capcom developer and Dragon’s Dogma creator Hideaki Itsuno announced that he was leaving the Japanese studio. This was a few months after Dragon’s Dogma 2 was released. Now, Itsuno is set to venture into new horizons after announcing that he has joined LightSpeed Studios as a lead developer. LightSpeed Studios is a Japanese game studio that’s a subsidiary of Tencent, a Chinese-owned conglomerate.
The news came from LightSpeed Studios itself, in a rather happy X/Twitter announcement:
If you haven’t heard of LightSpeed Studios before, that’s because they’re relatively fresh in the games industry scene. The most notable work under their portfolio thus far has been PUBG Mobile which they co-developed with Krafton, Inc. (a South Korean company).
With Hideaki Itsuno at the helm of LightSpeed Studio, things are expected to change. Itsuno has long been celebrated in the gaming community as a video game ‘auteur’ for his rather bold and unique vision for RPGs such as Dragon’s Dogma.
What Does That Mean for Dragon’s Dogma?
Fans of Dragon’s Dogma, however, might see this as a bittersweet development for Itsuno since Capcom still owns the Dragon’s Dogma license and brand. That very well means Itsuno will need to come up with his own intellectual property for LightSpeed Studios.
It’s not clear how the franchise will move forward without Itsuno. After all, Capcom now considers Dragon’s Dogma 2 as a key brand following substantial sales. So far, Itsuno hasn’t announced his plans for something new or big for LightSpeed Studios.
Still, Itsuno is happy about his new beginning. “Joining LightSpeed Studios is an exciting new chapter for me. With LightSpeed’s strong development capability and global network, I look forward to creating original AAA action game titles together with the amazing team and building aesthetic and innovative experiences for the global player community. We welcome all talented and passionate game creators from the world over to join our vision, he added.
Based on Itsuno’s statement, LightSpeed Studios is now poised to enter the AAA market, possibly in major platforms apart from mobile. It will take several more years, however, before we see anything exciting from them. But it’s a fair expectation to see some kind of spiritual successor to Dragon’s Dogma and Dragon’s Dogma 2.
