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[GrayChild]

Capcom execs were bewildered that people might want to play original Resident Evil when GOG approached them about it: 'We have all of those remakes. It’s already the superior experience'

What you fail to understand, Mr GOG, is that new thing is shiny.

www.pcgamer.com

I tend to share my colleague Ted Litchfield's philosophy when it comes to remakes. Do what you want (though I prefer reinvention to a one-to-one remake), just don't kill access to the original. It doesn't seem like too much to ask for: the kids get to play a version of a classic, I get to keep playing my old favourite like 2005 never ended. Everyone's happy.

Everyone but Capcom, anyway, which apparently took some real arm-twisting to get the original Resident Evil 1, 2, and 3 PC releases on GOG last year. It seems GOG had to make a few persuasion rolls to get Capcom to agree to it. Not necessarily because the company had business concerns about the move, but more because its execs literally couldn't conceive of why anyone would want to play the originals when their shiny remakes exist.

"Capcom were like, 'We have all of those remakes. It's already the superior experience to those games,'" GOG's senior bizdev manager Marcin Paczynski told The Game Business. "They didn't really see the value in bringing back the vanilla versions." Which, on the bright side, confirms a lot of my prejudices about games industry executives and their appreciation of art.

So GOG had to work to convince Capcom that there do, in fact, exist human beings who like to play old games. "It took a lot of convincing that there is an audience that has a lot of memories about those games," said Paczynski, "and would love to experience exactly the same game again. Thankfully, we were able to convince them."

Which is great, of course. To be honest, I don't have memories of the original Resident Evil games—they seemed way too scary for child-me to ever pick up, but I still very much enjoyed heading back into the Spencer Mansion in all RE1's PS1-era glory when GOG put out those releases last year.

It might bamboozle the suits, but original games have their value even when you've put out a new version that's been UE5'd out the wazoo. Preservation is a positive end in itself; we'd probably be in a better state if more people with their hands on the pursestrings appreciated it.

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

Execs:

"This won't make money."

Execs:

 

[Punished Miku]

No wonder they are a remake factory.

 

[CentralScrutinizer]

Gaming executives have to be some of the dumbest mother fuckers in business.

I just don't get how you can make so much money and be so out of touch.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Crazy to think Capcom has so little thoughts about classic RE. They port old school Mega Man and Street Fighter to every console known to man in all sorts of Anniversary editions but can't bother with their premier flagship franchise? Smdh. Now get it over on Switch in a physical copy you clueless execs.

 

[BennyBlanco]

GoG doing the lord's work. I wish it made more money.

 

[Sevyne]

Crazy to think Capcom has so little thoughts about classic RE. They port old school Mega Man and Street Fighter to every console known to man in all sorts of Anniversary editions but can't bother with their premier flagship franchise? Smdh. Now get it over on Switch in a physical copy you clueless execs.

This right here is what makes it really confusing how they don't know that the old games would sell. They have (very recent and constant) first-hand experience in releasing old titles and them actually selling. They must have some goldfish brained execs running the show.

 

[BennyBlanco]

I wonder if this is why MHGU etc never made it to GoG despite being heavily requested.

 

[Comandr]

Crazy to think Capcom has so little thoughts about classic RE. They port old school Mega Man and Street Fighter to every console known to man in all sorts of Anniversary editions but can't bother with their premier flagship franchise? Smdh. Now get it over on Switch in a physical copy you clueless execs.

I get where you're coming from, but I think their logic here is that "There is a really good remake available, why would anyone want to play the 'worse' original?" - There are no remakes of megaman or street fighter. So the only way to enjoy those games is to play the originals. I would imagine they would be similarly perplexed if it was any other franchise. Though they're absolutely in the wrong. RE3 for instance is flat out different than the remake.

It's also not a stretch to imagine someone playing a remake would be curious how it differed from the original and want to play that as well. They're seriously out of touch here.

 

[Sticks]

WE DO IT

 

[Punished Miku]

This right here is what makes it really confusing how they don't know that the old games would sell. They have (very recent and constant) first-hand experience in releasing old titles and them actually selling. They must have some goldfish brained execs running the show.

They don't have remakes. They think the remake makes the old one irrelevant.

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

Classic RE 1 to RE 3 are still the best followed by the Remakes of RE1 to RE4.

 

[Kacho]

I'd appreciate it if Capcom execs were less retarded with their classics. You'll put out a mega man battle network collection but not a Dino Crisis or Resident Evil collection?

 

[mèx]

The classic Resident Evil games are still way better than the modern remakes.

Now bring them to Steam, cowards.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

Execs tend to do what execs do, run a business; of course they wouldn't see the value of releasing something that might sell a 1000 copies total.

 

[Mr Hyde]

I get where you're coming from, but I think their logic here is that "There is a really good remake available, why would anyone want to play the 'worse' original?" - There are no remakes of megaman or street fighter. So the only way to enjoy those games is to play the originals. I would imagine they would be similarly perplexed if it was any other franchise. Though they're absolutely in the wrong. RE3 for instance is flat out different than the remake.

It's also not a stretch to imagine someone playing a remake would be curious how it differed from the original and want to play that as well. They're seriously out of touch here.

Sure, but Street Fighter (and Mega Man to some extent) has modern sequels that completely obliterate the originals in terms of gameplay and graphics. If Capcom execs thinks people wouldn't play classic Resident Evil because shiny new remakes then why would anyone play Street Fighter 2 when SF6 is out and looks like a million bucks in comparison? I agree they are seriously out of touch here.

I don't know, I just hate this industry sometimes and their constant negligence towards the past and to preservation of old games. I don't get why the remakes needs to erase the originals? They can co-exist side by side. The best example of a remake that also honors the original is "Metroid Zero Mission" because when you completed it you got the original Metroid as an unlockable. That should be the gold standard for every remake that gets released. Include the original when you finish the remake!

 

[adamsapple]

Not a Capgod move, this one.

Would be nice if this classics collection makes its way to other platforms, and consoles, too.

 

[Sticks]

The classic Resident Evil games are still way better than the modern remakes.

Now bring them to Steam, cowards.

With achievements

 

[Comandr]

Sure, but Street Fighter (and Mega Man to some extent) has modern sequels that completely obliterate the originals in terms of gameplay and graphics. If Capcom execs thinks people wouldn't play classic Resident Evil because shiny new remakes then why would anyone play Street Fighter 2 when SF6 is out and looks like a million bucks in comparison? I agree they are seriously out of touch here.

I don't know, I just hate this industry sometimes and their constant negligence towards the past and to preservation of old games. I don't get why the remakes needs to erase the originals? They can co-exist side by side. The best example of a remake that also honors the original is "Metroid Zero Mission" because when you completed it you got the original Metroid as an unlockable. That should be the gold standard for every remake that gets released. Include the original when you finish the remake!

Could you imagine how awesome that would be? RE2 remake included classic costumes from the original. Imagine if beating the game on the hardest difficulty unlocked the classic RE2 game with the updated costumes. Still 32 bit. But new textures. That would be the coolest fuckin thing.

 

[f~N_CH_1:3:3:3_SushiBoat]

Keep supporting GoG as much as you can, my brothers and sisters. A true hero amongst a sea of villians.

 

[TintoConCasera]

I wonder if this is why MHGU etc never made it to GoG despite being heavily requested.

For as much as I'd love for that to happen, Capcom must be aware that the game is too good and that it would cannibalize a lot of their own sales of modern MH games.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Of course they were. Your "Capgods" only understand money. Their remember their legacy only when they haven't a new shiny version of a game to sell you.
As much as I enjoyed RE2R (and I enjoyed it a lot), I'll always want the original to be available.
Same for RE1, which I always preferred to the REmake.

 

[Holammer]

Reminds me of an interview is an 90's EDGE magazine where they talked with some Japanese guy (pretty sure he was Capcom) and he was confused when they asked about re-releases of old games.
I'll see if I can find it.

 

[Karim]

RE3E is not superior in anything. I will never forgive them.

 

[winjer]

The CEO's on most of these companies are so disconnected from reality, that they can't even understand their own consumer base.
We really need people that are more competent in this industry.

 

[simpatico]

I agree with them. I'm still not able to enjoy many replays from the early 3D era. Just a select few hold up for me.

 

[cinnamonandgravy]

tank controls, fixed camera angles, and slow doors give a weird sense of vulnerability and suspense that modern RE games just dont have

 

[Durin]

Definitely re-confirms to me that enough executives in games treat the industry like they're selling appliances. EA execs same exact mentality.

Better question if you're in business...is why wouldn't you want to make money on both? If you change enough of the core design, people will have different preference.

 

[Ellis]

Should never try and replace originals with remakes. You compliment the original with a remake, sure, but you keep supporting the games that made the series people love in the first place.

It's like when people say REmake GC makes the original game obsolete. Does it fuck. Still plenty of things that the original does better.

Voice acting for one. The cheese and charm is all part of the experience people love so much. They tried to make it more serious in the remake but it didn't work out. It ended up sounding generic and lifeless.

Then there is the gameplay itself. The original felt fast and responsive even though it was tank based. REmake had a strange floaty feeling that wasn't anywhere near as fluid to control. Zombies did that fake lunge bollocks when you walked slowly to them face on, which could then be exploited the entire game making them no threat, whereas on the original game they were absolute bastards to manoeuvre around in some corners no matter how many times you played the game.

Graphically it was incredible, and worth the price of admission for that alone, but on the whole it never replaced the OG.

 

[March Climber]

Gaming executives have to be some of the dumbest mother fuckers in business.

I just don't get how you can make so much money and be so out of touch.

Remember the gaming business used to be compared directly to the toy industry (instead of the movie industry like it should have been). I wouldn't be surprised if some of the older execs in certain big name companies still have this same mentality about it.

"Who would want to play with an older toy?"

 

[MacReady13]

Purchased them all on GOG and am so happy to be able to play these original classics but really not surprised the suits would think this way. The fear of releasing older stuff as it was originally intended to be played is infuriating.

 

[Spukc]

Bullshit.
Breath of fire 4 also releases on gog capcom knows

 

[ssringo]

Here's another surprise for them: people would buy classic style Resident Evil games too. Low budget, low poly and all. We're already doing so with indies. I bet it'd do incredibly well (compared to the cost to make).

 

[kevboard]

Crazy to think Capcom has so little thoughts about classic RE. They port old school Mega Man and Street Fighter to every console known to man in all sorts of Anniversary editions but can't bother with their premier flagship franchise? Smdh. Now get it over on Switch in a physical copy you clueless execs.

to be fair NES, SNES, GB, GBA emulation... that's all super easy to port to anything that has almost any CPU in it these days.

I would bet that it is literally impossible to buy a product today, that has a CPU inside, that couldn't emulate NES...

 

[Soodanim]

I'm not surprised. I'm a fan of multiple Capcom franchises but under the surface they're not as clued up as most people think they are. Other companies are respecting their legacies and jumping at the chance to make free money forever by porting classic collections, but Capcom haven't got a clue.

I think I said it in another Capcom thread recently: they're still riding the the success of the RE2R/MHW era, and none of their recent titles in any franchise have hit those same highs. They're on a decline (with exceptions like RE4R and DLC), it's just that the height they're declining from is about as high as you can get so it isn't as noticeable yet. We'll see how RE9 does. I'm hopeful, as always, but realistic.

RE1, 2, and 3 are all better than their remakes, and I will die on this hill.

 

[SHAKEZ]

Capcom execs sit on a gigantic pile of possibility and money, but they're cognitively unable to discern any of it. Their devs keep saving their asses time and time again.

 

[MagiusNecros]

RE3E is not superior in anything.

It is superior in being an objectively worse game then RE3 Nemesis.

 

[GrayChild]

The classic Resident Evil games are still way better than the modern remakes.

Now bring them to Steam, cowards.

I don't think that can happen. GOG did a lot of work on the games. Making them compatible with modern systems, latest controllers, having native 4K resolution support etc.

Which is even more surprising. Why did CAPCOM even hesitate? They literally provided a couple of original PC discs and had GOG's team do all the work and bringing them to their storefront. CAPCOM did absolutely nothing in this case apart from just saying 'OK', and still got 70-80% of each copy sold.

 

[ToneyJ]

Not surprised the modern Capcom that makes first person RE slop doesn't see the value in classic RE.

 

[Guilty_AI]

The classic Resident Evil games are still way better than the modern remakes.

Now bring them to Steam, cowards.

They shouldn't bother, just get them on GOG. It's a way better platform if you're looking for old games anyway.

 

[Hanzaki]

Gaming executives have to be some of the dumbest mother fuckers in business.

I just don't get how you can make so much money and be so out of touch.

They are just businessmen.
None of the top executives care of the product they are selling and this is not exclusive to gaming industry.
They are there to lead departments and make decisions that generate the biggest revenue possible.
They don't have feelings of any kind to games they're try to sell and they are annoying as fck but definately not dumb.
They are just businessmen...

 

[CentralScrutinizer]

They are just businessmen.
None of the top executives care of the product they are selling and this is not exclusive to gaming industry.
They are there to lead departments and make decisions that generate the biggest revenue possible.
They don't have feelings of any kind to games they're try to sell and they are annoying as fck but definately not dumb.
They are just businessmen...

Smart businessmen know what their customers want and provide the products to them to maximize profits.

 

[StereoVsn]

Smart business
men know what their customers want and provide the products to them to maximize profits.

Plus it helps develop goodwill toward the company in their customers and costs pennies to do so.

It's really no brainer yet here we are.

 

[Juja]

It is superior in being an objectively worse game then RE3 Nemesis.

I actually really love the remake, but the original is definitely the better game. The REmake is like a theme park ride version of the game, so you lose a lot of content, but you get the general highlights.

That being said, I only paid $5 for it, so I don't judge it too harshly.

 

[Fbh]

Are the same executives that thought what people wanted from Monster Hunter was less difficulty, more cutscenes and dated visuals with shitty performance at low resolutions?

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

Quite sad.

 

[bender]

I don't think that can happen. GOG did a lot of work on the games. Making them compatible with modern systems, latest controllers, having native 4K resolution support etc.

Which is even more surprising in this case. Why did CAPCOM even hesitate? They literally provided a couple of original PC discs and had GOG's team do all the work and bringing them to their storefront. CAPCOM did absolutely nothing in this case, and still got 70-80% of each copy sold.

They were probably going on previous experiences with Virtual Console and PlayStation Classics, there just isn't much money to be made when you are selling games for ~$8 bucks a pop. Those services would still be around and supported had they been a success and are somewhat still around thanks to subscription services from those platform holders. I also think rereleased games on new platforms had to be rerated by the ESRB and regional equivalents which is a cost. Not sure that's applicable for these GoG releases. Capcom's support with Resident Evil, Dino Crisis, and Breath of Fire has been admirable, but I'll be curious if they keep it up and if GoG can get other partners (Konami and Silent Hill/Metal Gear Solid would be fantastic). Sales data would be interesting.

 

[MagiusNecros]

That being said, I only paid $5 for it, so I don't judge it too harshly.

$5 is a fair price.

Fbh Probably. Maybe they can redeem themselves with the next MH entry because Easy Mode Monster Hunter: Other M was not on my bingo card.

 

[bender]

Maybe they can redeem themselves with the next MH entry...

 

[Soodanim]

They were probably going on previous experiences with Virtual Console and PlayStation Classics, there just isn't much money to be made when you are selling games for ~$8 bucks a pop. Those services would still be around and supported had they been a success and are somewhat still around thanks to subscription services from those platform holders. I also think rereleased games on new platforms had to be rerated by the ESRB and regional equivalents which is a cost. Not sure that's applicable for these GoG releases. Capcom's support with Resident Evil, Dino Crisis, and Breath of Fire has been admirable, but I'll be curious if they keep it up and if GoG can get other partners (Konami and Silent Hill/Metal Gear Solid would be fantastic). Sales data would be interesting.

Don't GOG basically do all the work themselves? Unless I'm mistaken Capcom's choice was essentially 0 Yen or >0 Yen.

I think people are a bit too hopeful wanting brand new ports of PS1 games, even if it's just a rom wrapped in an emulator. Although (tangent time) a legal rom distribution is probably an avenue worth exploring. That really is free money if you set it up right. As Gaben said: piracy is a service problem. Let people buy roms and you'll instantly make more than if you don't.

GOG, start selling roms.