Dotemu's CEO on how it makes new games that feel retro

Dotemu is on a pretty good run. The video game studio and publisher has been around since 2007, and much of its history is largely working on remakes and remasters of older games. But it's also been involved with major hits in the form of sequels and new games that are in the spirit of older classics, including Streets of Rage 4 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge.
All of that work is culminating in what looks to be a promising 2025, with three new but classics-inspired games: Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, a new side-scroller for the series; Marvel Cosmic Invasion, an arcade-y beat-'em-up; and Absolum, an original beat-'em-up with roguelike elements.
'We're open to everything,' CEO Cyrille Imbert tells The Verge. Despite his title, Imbert says his job involves acting like an executive producer to bring together concepts that answer specific needs for franchises.
Before Shredder's Revenge 's 2022 release, for example, there hadn't been a good side-scrolling TMNT game for 'a while,' he says. (Turtles in Time, which helped inspire the game, came out in 1991.) 'We were convinced that there was a need for that.' There was: the game sold 1 million copies in its first week, developer Tribute Games said at the time.
Dotemu takes on 'most of the risk' of a project based on an existing franchise, Imbert says, meaning that while the company needs to convince a franchise owner to get on board, Dotemu typically finances everything and is responsible for finding a studio to execute a concept.
'From A to Z, we are in control of the project, but we take the risk from A to Z as well,' explains Imbert. 'Sometimes the studio will also participate financially, but it's fairly rare, or it's usually a minority of the total spending.'
With the new Ninja Gaiden game, for example, Imbert says he was familiar with the 3D iterations of the franchise on Xbox, and he also saw the success of recent action-platformers like The Messenger. So, he started conversations with Koei Tecmo, and then worked with The Game Kitchen, the developer of Blasphemous, on a pitch. 'That's the story, basically,' Imbert says.
For Marvel Cosmic Invasion, Imbert says that following Streets of Rage 4, 'lots of people' had been asking for a new X-Men game that was like what you used to find in arcades. 'We knew there was a need and that people would really like it,' he says, especially if it got a similar treatment as Streets of Rage 4 or Shredder's Revenge. The idea was 'very obvious' to the Tribute Games team as well, so Dotemu and Tribute made a pitch to Marvel Games.
Absolum, as a fully original game, is different from its other titles. From a pure business perspective, it's a way for Dotemu to diversify its lineup so that the company doesn't rely entirely on licensed games. Internally, the Dotemu team felt like they could do their own thing, and by making it inspired by classics, it would still fit in Dotemu's lineup, Imbert says. They also wanted to work with Guard Crush, which worked on Streets of Rage 4, on another beat-'em-up.
It all adds up to what's going to be a busy year for the company. It has three games that show the different approaches it has to making these kinds of experiences, and all of them were chosen for a specific reason. 'That's how we're going to be proud of what we do.'

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