Virtua Tennis creator explains why Sumo Digital isn't involved with VT 4, says 3DS could happen if fans want it

A portion of a Eurogamer interview with Virtua Tennis creator, Mie Kumagai…

Eurogamer: The last game, Virtua Tennis 2009 was created by Sumo Digital. For Virtua Tennis 4 you’ve taken the series back to Japan for internal development. Why did you do that?

Mie Kumagai: 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.

Eurogamer: Will we see Virtua Tennis 4 on Nintendo 3DS and Next Generation Possible?

Mie Kumagai: Well, the question will be answered by another question: do you want it?

Eurogamer: Of course.

Mie Kumagai: There are no plans at the moment. But if people want it then we’ll obviously answer wishes.