I don't know, people will believe they've heard what they want to be true. Although, Capcom did say that they could make DMC5 if there is enough demand for it, and if they believe DMC has a future. Basically, they said they had no idea.
I thought DMC4 was a pretty good game. Sure, it doesn't really have a great plot, but it was a nice plot, what with Trish giving the Order the Yamato to see whether or not they were evil. And Dante possibly giving Nero some enemies on purpose. People hated it mostly because of Nero and the backtracking, yes. Nero is DMC's Raiden, and he's got some sort of Liquid Ocelot arm. The whole character just shouldn't exist - not as Vergil's son, not as a son of Sparda, not as anything. The arm spoiled any chance of him being a well thought out character. And the backtracking, well, it sucked. Basically the same enemies again, only you fought them with Dante that time. The cutscenes make the game, really.
The gameplay, however, is still better than DmC's. I'd say the graphics are too. And I don't understand why people say DmC is so great for following the story, as it's pretty much the same as before. I'd even rather take DMC1 over that.