According to the Japanese company, Ōkami has had great sales, but the company was waiting for the right situation to give the franchise a new installment.

It was a big surprise last year when Capcom announced that Ōkami would be getting a sequel. Even though the original (which was first released on PS2) was not a declared blockbuster, it did not disappoint with its ratings. But this position was reversed by Capcom producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi, who says that Ōkami’s reputation is no longer deserved.

Released on the PS2 in 2006, the Wii in 2008, the PS3 in 2012, the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in December 2017, and the Nintendo Switch in August 2018, Ōkami was initially underwhelming, but the ports have helped Capcom turn things around (as total sales are now over 4.6 million): “I know concretely that people are still enjoying this game, just from the numbers. Normally, when we look at games, the sales slow down somehow and they go down steadily. But for Ōkami, we see that it’s a steady stream of people who are still enjoying the game. So in that sense, Ōkami is a very, very unique IP,” Hirabayashi told IGN.

According to the producer, the right people had to be in the right places before the project could be officially launched. He was referring to Hideki Kamiya, the game’s director. Only he had gone to PlatinumGames and then left to return to Capcom, while the Kami team ended up in part at Machine Head Works. Hirabayashi says it took a long time for the stars to align for the sequel. Kamiya said that it was the support of the fans that gave him the push to get the Ōkami sequel off the ground, and if it weren’t for those voices, he wouldn’t have gotten involved, and he thanked the supporters for that.

So the sequel to Ōkami is already in the works, and we’ll just have to wait for Capcom to show us more. Be patient, because it’s been 19 years since the original…

Source: PCGamer