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Konami acknowledges fan demands for more Castlevania

Konami assistant producer Tsutomu Taniguchi said the hype around things like the Dead Cells Castlevania DLC has been 'really motivating for Konami.'

TJ Denzer

March 13, 2023 7:45 AM

Image via Motion Twin

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In 2023, Konami still sits on a mountain of highly-beloved, but mostly dormant IP that fans would love to see make comebacks, such as Castlevania. The Dracula-slaying franchise has had some love recently with anthology re-releases, but it was the Dead Cells Castlevania DLC that really gave fire to the fans. Konami has heard it, too. Recently, assistant producer Tsutomu Taniguchi shared that the buzz around the Castlevania franchise has Konami hyped up to do more with it.

Taniguchi made these comments in an interview with IGN posted late last week. According to the interview, the Dead Cells Castlevania DLC that launched brought a lot of buzz to the franchise, which has been riding off of energy from the Netflix series, anthologies, and mobile ports for the last few years. Taniguchi acknowledged that fans have been asking for more for quite some time.

“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.”

Tanguchi went on to say that the love fans were showing for Castlevania made the Dead Cells collaboration one it couldn’t pass up.

“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,” Taniguchi explained.

Konami has seemingly been on a roll of allowing third-party devs to take cracks at its IP as well, The company has Bloober Team working on a Silent Hill 2 remake, as well as Annapurna Interactive and other groups working on further spinoffs like Silent Hill: Townfall. Konami has also worked with indie studios to create new takes on classic series like GetsuFumaDen.

If there was any doubt fans would like more Castlevania, the Dead Cells DLC should probably have quelled it, but it remains to be seen if Konami will keep rolling with the hype and do more with its beloved action-horror franchise. Stay tuned as we continue to watch for further updates.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.