Cygames wants to make a new Zone of the Enders

Cygames, which co-developed Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner – MARS with Konami, wants to make a new entry in the Zone of the Enders series. The news comes via a newly published interview with Cygames project manager Kenichi Kondo, Cygames game engineer Akira Horibata, and Konami general producer Noriaki Okamura with Dengeki Online.

Here is the snippet:

While I’m looking forward to the release of Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner – MARS, as a fan I’m hoping for something that leads to a completely new entry.

Kondo: “Of course, as a company we feel like we’d like make a completely new entry. We’re talking to Konami about considering a sequel if this one sells and is received well, so it would be great if everyone could buy it.”

Okamura: “These are strictly my own feelings, but from my perspective I’d like for Cygames to create a new entry.”

If there is a sequel, will you also tackle virtual reality?

Kondo: “I think this title has what players want, but I think we’ll have an even better idea once it has released. Isn’t that what one does when approaching the idea of a sequel? Even though I am seriously saying I’d like to make a new title, I would only consider VR as long as it didn’t interfere with the experience I want to create. If VR caused restraints to high-speed combat, I would probably consider a different direction.”

Horibata: “The most important thing is that the Zone of the Enders series is an IP loved by its fans, and a new title should go beyond expectations. We’ll sincerely consider what elements are necessary to grow in order to do that. I’ll be happy if this can lead to a good future as a work, not just as a product, and I hope that I can lend a hand in that.”

Okamura: “This title pushes the limit of current generation systems, especially from the difficulty in performance that I’ve witnessed. Particularly regarding the 4K and VR capabilities of this generation. I don’t think anything that has prepared these two elements at the same level greater than this will come out.

“The balance becomes really bad if we specialize in 4K and VR capabilities simultaneously, but with that in mind, The 2nd Runner has made extremely good use of current generation capabilities. Even if Cygames makes the next one, I think it will be tailored to that hardware.”

Kondo: “I want the next title to happen, and I want it to be as interesting as possible. Even within the company there are a lot of Zone of the Enders fans, so if it’s possible, the series will take some form. Of course, I don’t know if it will be Zone of the Enders 3 or Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner 2, or something completely different, but I would like to put out the next entry if we can.”

Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner – MARS launched for PlayStation 4 and PC via Steam on September 4 in the Americas and launches September 6 in Europe and Japan. An “Orange Case” demo was released for PlayStation 4 last week. Read more about the game here.