Igarashi talks Bloodstained’s success, growing the IP as a series, hints at something brand new

In a recent interview with Famitsu, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night creator Koji Igarashi reiterated interest in turning the IP into a series. However, he stressed the importance of wanting to “take my time and do things right.”

Igarashi also spoke about interest in working on something else entirely. While he didn’t give anything away regarding what sort of game ideas he could pursue, he’d want to develop “something a little more challenging if I were to create something brand new.”

Here’s our full translation of the interview excerpt:

It’s been a five year journey since the Kickstarter campaign. Where does Ritual of the Night stand for you among the games you’ve worked on?

Igarashi: I’ve made a lot of games in my life, but this is the first one I really got serious on since I left major companies behind me. So this is one of the most important games I’ve ever made. We’ve sold over one million copies now, so I’ve really got to go all out if I want to turn this into a series.

So now that you’ve reached the one million mark, you’re allowing yourself to think about turning it into a series?

Igarashi: You got it. I really want to take my time and do things right, though.

But didn’t you say before that you wanted to make something brand new, as well?

Igarashi: I did. My greatest aspiration is for ArtPlay to become a company that has several irons in the fire, not just one. Ritual of the Night could be one of our main foundations – especially if we keep the series going and we do it well. Then we can have another game with the same amount of integrity behind it at the same time.

If you were to make something new, what would that look like?

Igarashi: I think a lot of my accumulated expertise went into the making of Ritual of the Night, so I’d like to make something a little more challenging if I were to create something brand new.

Translation provided by Oni Dino on behalf of Nintendo Everything.