Why Konami Won't Release Another Console Castlevania

The Castlevania series is one of the classics of gaming. The original game first appeared in 1986, and the Belmont clan has been hunting bloodsuckers ever since. All told, there have been dozens of Castlevania titles across nearly every imaginable platform. The series has been included on both the NES Classic and SNES Classic, appearing alongside Nintendo's own historic characters and worlds. It's a game series that has endured its ups and downs and has withstood the test of time, and it always seems like a solid choice for a classic revival.

However, fans' requests to Konami have fallen on (mostly) deaf ears. It seems unlikely that a big-budget, console Castlevania will be headed down the pipe in the foreseeable future for a number of reasons. Never say never, but we wouldn't hold our breath for a new entry in the series any time soon. Here are the reasons why Konami is not hitting the gas on a new console Castlevania.

After Symphony of the Night, the Castlevania series was riding high. The new technology available on the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 meant that the next entry in the series would be even bigger and better, right? Not so fast.

The first official Castlevania title after Symphony of the Night was Castlevania: Legends. It came out on the original Game Boy, and is the lowest-rated title in the series. After that, the maligned Nintendo 64 titles were released. The first received some average ratings, but the second of those titles, Legacy of Darkness, received a critical shellacking upon release. Castlevania was not continuing a hot streak in the late '90s.

In fact, that seems to be the name of the game with Castlevania. Whenever a critically acclaimed title releases, it is quickly followed by a deflating release that kills a lot of the hype surrounding the series. After 2005's Dawn of Sorrow, we got Curse of Darkness. After The Dracula X Chronicles, Konami released Judgment.

Luckily, a new branch in the Castlevania franchise, Lords of Shadow, seemed like it was going to revitalize the series.

Kotaku writes that, about the time the first Lords of Shadow game came out, something strange was happening at Konami. A mobile title called Dragon Collection was making a tremendous return on a relatively small development cost, and big-budget titles were starting to look less appealing to the people in charge. The corporate culture in some of the bigger branches of the studio began to suffer as a result.

The report from Nikkei that Kotaku referenced indicates some awful working conditions. Cameras were installed not for security reasons, but to monitor employee movement. Staff that were deemed no longer viable were reassigned as security guards or manual laborers, rather than being laid off. Members of the staff that expressed support for an employee who was leaving the company were shuffled into less desirable positions.

Overall, it sounds like something straight out of 1984. And that doesn't even scratch the surface of how Konami treated some of its most well-known creators.

Koji Igarashi, known by his fans as "Iga," helped bring several fan-favorite Castlevania titles to life, including Symphony of the Night. He did not escape Konami's dramatic corporate shift, however, and left the company in 2014. IGN writes that his main reason for leaving was the way the company had treated its employees.

Iga claimed to understand Konami's pursuit of money, as any corporation does. However, Iga's agent also said this about his decision to leave: "As a top-level creator who also was put in difficult situations in which he had to make difficult choices, it's always sad when really interesting franchises or really talented creators end up not being able to make the thing they've made in the past that has made the fans so happy, speaking brutally honest, that has generated revenue in the first place. So for him, it's kind of a sad day to see that's happening."

Kotaku writes that Iga left the company after 24 years, and that Konami moved him to the development of social games after moving him off the Castlevania games. His first project outside of Konami was, naturally, a spiritual successor to Symphony of the Night called Bloodstained.

Rereleases are a perfect solution for Konami's approach to Castlevania. Rather than suffering through a long development cycle and unknown fan reception, they can simply port their most beloved titles to new platforms and rake in the dough. We've already talked about the inclusion of Castlevania titles on the NES Classic and SNES Classic, and nearly every well-received game in the series has seen release on multiple platforms.

For example, in 2018, Konami put together Castlevania Requiem, a two-for-one package that includes both Symphony of the Night and Rondo of Blood. It released for PlayStation 4 for $19.99. If you check a list of Castlevania titles, you can see that nearly every single one has been brought to several consoles through rereleases, ports, and collections. For Konami, this seems like a better bet than actually developing new games — something they were once pretty well known for.

One option available to fans of Castlevania lies in the Netflix animated series. The first season was generally well-received: it boasted a strong animation style but did not have a lot to say with just a four-episode run.

Decider writes the the second season of the show was able to tell a much more intricate and nuanced story than the first. Writer Kayla Cobb says that the second season of the show "transforms into something more interesting than a collection of awesome scenes. In its second season Castlevania sternly questions whether humanity is worth saving. The answer isn't as cut and dry as one may think."

Netflix executives obviously agreed. Polygon writes that writer and producer Warren Ellis will return to the series for a third season. He will be continuing the story of Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse, following Trevor Belmont and his attempt to defeat Dracula. We don't know yet when the third season will premiere, but it seems likely we will see it sometime in 2019.