Virtua Tennis 4 being developed by orginal team due to fan feedback


The guys over at Eurogamer have grabbed a pretty good interview with Mie Kumagai, producer for Virtua Tennis 4. One of the important questions asked was why AM3 took the franchise back to Japan, when Virtua Tennis 2009 was done by Sumo Digital.

“The reason why it was taken back to Japan with the original studio was looking at Virtua Tennis 3 and 2009 and listening to fan reaction and user feedback, we felt for 4 there needed to be a lot of major changes in the game.

With that in mind, if you’re going to add a lot of new elements, if you’re going to change something quite a lot, to some respect you have to scrap what’s already there. We felt it was a task best done by the original team who understood the game the most, who understood the main concepts and goals of the game the most, and had the most experience. We could constructively scrap parts where we would need to update and think about what could be changed, what could be updated.

At the end of 2009, we felt almost every element in the game was exhausted. So we needed to bring a lot of new things on board. That’s why it was taken back to the original team in Japan.”– Mie Kumagai, Virtua Tennis 4 producer

I love Sumo Digital, but I’m very excited that the original team is back and trying to deliver a fresh game in the series. There is just so much you can do with tennis, I guess we will see the changes when the game launches in the spring.

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2 responses to “Virtua Tennis 4 being developed by orginal team due to fan feedback

  1. Sharky says:

    I agree, Sumo Digital are an awesome bunch and they have done some great jobs on Sega ports AND Sega Racing was a favourite of mine last year…

    But I'm glad to see the original developers get back on this game, as I would be for any game.

  2. cube_b3 says:

    Must read the entire interview.

    We were discussing this a while back in the forum as well. Sumo Digital as great as it is hasn't taken original initiatives, they are great at fan service though and it isn't limited to SEGA they did a racer fpr Konami a while back that had Sparksters as an unlockable character.

    You can be a great studio by delivering a solid experience, a solid experience doesn't require original ideas it requires perfection.

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