“Clover would have probably continued” had it been more successful.
Okami was a “huge failure” in terms of initial sales, director Hideki Kamiya has said.
Kamiya discussed the development of Okami with Ikumi Nakamura for the YouTube channel of her new studio Unseen.
The pair worked together for the first time on the Zelda-like adventure game.
Discussing his recipe for success, Kamiya said in the video: “There is no secret recipe”.
The pair agreed they haven’t succeeded purely in terms of sales.
“Even Okami, did it make 150,000 units?”
“The initial shipment was 90,000.
It was a huge failure.
If it had been successful, Clover would have probably continued.”
The pair chatted further in the video about working together, with plenty of banter and anecdotes between them.
Nakamura agreed and Kamiya stated he can be honest “because we’re friends”.
“We could have done more,” agreed Nakamura.
“But it became clear that it was impossible to create this vast natural environment on PlayStation 2.”
“When I saw that I thought the sense of realism was amazing,” said Kamiya.
“The level of photo-realism was very high.
I thought it could be nice if we used that for something more light-hearted instead of horror.”
It’s become a beloved game, despite its seemingly troubled development.
It’s unclear what he’s working on next.
