Haydn Dalton, lead designer on Darksiders 2 at developer Vigil Games, has some interesting ideas for Darksiders 3 – if THQ decides to greenlight a sequel. If Darksiders 2 is successful, Dalton told VideoGamer, it's unlikely THQ would have Vigil shift development to another franchise.
Specifically, if Darksiders 2 manages to sell "4 or 5 million units," he said, THQ president Jason Rubin would likely want a sequel, though he might expect Vigil to "reduce the scope so that we can make it even higher polished." Doing so would give the game more focus, said Dalton.
Building a smaller open world with more detail isn't necessarily a bad thing – it worked wonders in Rocksteady's Batman games. A smaller world certainly wouldn't hurt THQ's unstable bottom line. It's also worth noting that 4 million units of any game is no small feat. To put things in perspective, Saints Row: The Third, one of THQ's most successful games, managed to ship 4.25 million units in roughly seven months.
Darksiders 2 launches August 14.