Not saying it's the sole reason, but I'd say it's a major factor. Most people's hate towards the game even after release came from them being negatively biased from the start for that reason.
Me personally, I watched the first trailer and I was... surprised, to say the least. I wanted to talk to people about it and so I joined tons of discussions. Months later, I almost completely dropped following its development altogether, I stopped caring, not only about DmC, but the franchise as a whole. And lots of other people, friends of mine included, did too. That's how badly this game hurt the franchise and the fanbase (even though there were other fractures before, none of em compared to this one).
The positive aspect of my drop in caring is that when I first played it on my friend's Xbox (why should have I bought it if I didn't care?) I was long cooled down so I could analize it with a clearer mind. Overall, I liked it, but I have my complaints about its quality as a Devil May Cry game, and ultimately a number of small grievances that put together, still left a "meh" taste in my mouth.