The real demons in ‘Devil May Cry 5’ are its microtransactions

Devil May Cry 5 is shaping up to be a fantastic return for the series, which hasn’t seen a true sequel in over a decade, but it will come with some changes in design philosophy. Director Hideaki Itsuno revealed to GameSpot that Dante and Nero’s upcoming adventure will feature microtransactions though he doesn’t believe it will change the game for veteran players.

Itsuno explains that microtransactions are included as an option for purchasing the in-game “Red Orbs” currency.

“If they want to save time and just want to get all the stuff at once, those people can do that,” Itsuno said. “But on the other hand, I don’t feel you have to get all the moves. You should be able to play it the way you want to play it.”

He added that the pricing for abilities and skills was set so the most advanced would be more expensive, while those the development team “[feels] people should get first” are cheaper. However, if you spend money on these earlier skills, you might not have enough Red Orbs to purchase the later abilities when you’re ready to use them.

“So you have to make the decision between going for the cheaper stuff or saving up — getting the thing that has a lot of application but [that] you’ll have to spend time learning and perfecting,” Itsuno said.

We’ve heard this explanation from other game companies in the past when discussing microtransactions in $60 campaign-focused games, including from Electronic Arts with Dead Space 3, and you could even purchase 300,000 Red Orbs for $2 in Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition, but Capcom should be careful about coming across as cynical with the decision. In a skill-based action game, giving rewards to the highest payer could sully the experience for those determined to only pay the standard $60.

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In addition to the standard single-player mode, it appears there will also be some form of multiplayer, though specific details on the mode remain under wraps. Given the multiple protagonists — Dante, Nero, and new character V — it seems likely they’ll all play a role, but maybe Capcom has something unexpected up its sleeve.

Devil May Cry 5 comes to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on March 8.