Dragon’s Dogma 2 was generally met with a pretty positive critical reception when it released last year, but it wasn’t a complete crowd pleaser. A lot of its design decisions were quite divisive, and in his first media interview since leaving Capcom following the release of the sequel, game director Hideaki Itsuno explained that he made it that way very purposefully.

Speaking to VGC, Itsuno explained that he ultimately wasn’t that surprised that the game wasn’t universally beloved, because he designed it to not be. “I made the game not like a Nintendo one to be liked by all the people, but for a certain type of audience, so it’s normal if some people outside that target audience don’t like the game,” Itsuno said. “However, people who enjoyed the game really loved it, appreciated the details and work. I’m very proud of it.”

Itsuno also touched on why he decided to leave Capcom–his exit came only six months after Dragon’s Dogma 2 came out–explaining that it was quite simply down to wanting to make an original AAA game as opposed to sequels for Devil May Cry and Dragon’s Dogma. The game developer is now at the Tencent-owned LightSpeed Japan Studio, where he’s working on a new action game.

Speaking on that move, Itsuno also said that for him, based on his age, this is his “last chance.” He continued, “The gaming industry has decreased the number of AAA releases, and I was asked to create a new AAA [by LightSpeed]. I’m not young anymore, so more than ‘now it’s the right moment,’ it’s more like, ‘this is my last chance’ to challenge myself.”

He also shared that he almost left during the development of Dragon’s Dogma 2, but ultimately decided to stay until after the game was completely finished before moving on to LightSpeed.

For an insight into whether that divisiveness makes the game worth playing, you can check out GameSpot’s Dragon’s Dogma 2 review.