Fan enthusiasm for Castlevania is ‘motivating for Konami’, developer says

A Konami developer has acknowledged the “excitement and enthusiasm of the fans online” for the Castlevania franchise, amidst reports of a reboot.

In a new interview with IGN, Konami assistant producer Tsutomu Taniguchi said that the buzz was “really motivating for Konami.”

The interview was conducted to mark the release of Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania, a crossover expansion that combines the two franchises.

“We tried to bring back the games that people loved and cherished with the Castlevania Anniversary Collection and the Castlevania Advance Collection,” Taniguchi said.

“We also brought back Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night for our PlayStation fans and on mobile, and launched Grimoire of Souls on Apple Arcade to celebrate the lore of the franchise.

“But we know that our fans always want more, and we do too, so this opportunity to have this amazing crossover with Dead Cells was impossible to pass up on. ”

Like many of Konami’s core gaming series, Castlevania has been dormant for several years – the last mainline installment, Lords of Shadow 2, was released in 2014, and was outsourced to an external developer, Spanish studio MercurySteam.

Further reading

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God of War Ragnarök’s director says he wants to work on Castlevania next

"If somebody gives me that Castlevania license, we would love to make that"

VGC first reported in 2021 that Konami is now softening its stance over licensing more of its game properties to external studios.

This was most recently seen with the announcement of a Silent Hill 2 remake by Polish company Bloober Team, something VGC also reported previously.

In the same report from 2021, sources suggested a Castlevania reboot was also in the works internally in Japan.