Is Capcom the next THQ?
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Fushichou187
Member
It would be pretty wild for company's like Capcom, with their storied franchises, to face liquidity and open up the opportunity for other publishers or developers to snatch up the IPs. It could breathe new life into a lot of those franchises.
ConteZero76
Member
Maybe they should focus on one or two platforms instead of playing the kingmaker game like they did in the beginning of XBox360-PS3 era.
Capcom is in the (presently) untenable position of being a company that has historically produced well-designed games with unique mechanics that require the player to learn and master to them, conforming to what the game expects, rather than producing a game that conforms to what the player already expects. They have a sizable, dedicated, enthusiastic fanbase, because they have (at least until very recently) been one of the absolute best in the business at making those kinds of games.
The problem is, a "sizable" audience is just not sufficient to sustain top-shelf AAA graphical showcases. If they want to continue keeping up with the Joneses in the graphical arms race, they need games with universal appeal, and they've never - never - been the sort of publisher/developer who was capable of that.
- When they try to make games with universal appeal, they A) Find out that they're not actually that good at it, because it's just not in their company's DNA, and B) They drive away a significant portion of their dedicated audience, as well, because giving a game universal appeal is fundamentally incompatible with making the kind of game that Capcom is good at making.
- If they abandon universal appeal, making the kinds of games that Capcom has historically been known for, they invariably find that the lack of universal appeal simply leads to sales that are too low to sustain the level of graphical quality required to stay in the AAA game.
- If they make the kind of games that they're good at making, and lower the budget and graphical quality to a sustainable level, they are almost always really successful. But being able to swing their technology dick around seems to be a point of pride, or something, and making games that don't look like AAA games feeds into this bizarre narrative that they (and Japan) are becoming irrelevant, and the message boards are filled with wailing and gnashing of teeth, etc. Those don't seem like particularly strong negatives to me, but they only make a few games that fit that bill, so I guess that stuff bothers someone, somewhere, who is in a position to make those kinds of decisions.
It's pretty sad to see Capcom in such a hole - they were hands-down my favourite company in video games from 2005 right on through 2010. The fall since then has just been staggering. I'm just glad that Monster Hunter has (so far) been safe from all the shit that's been dragging the company down.
The problem is, a "sizable" audience is just not sufficient to sustain top-shelf AAA graphical showcases. If they want to continue keeping up with the Joneses in the graphical arms race, they need games with universal appeal, and they've never - never - been the sort of publisher/developer who was capable of that.
- When they try to make games with universal appeal, they A) Find out that they're not actually that good at it, because it's just not in their company's DNA, and B) They drive away a significant portion of their dedicated audience, as well, because giving a game universal appeal is fundamentally incompatible with making the kind of game that Capcom is good at making.
- If they abandon universal appeal, making the kinds of games that Capcom has historically been known for, they invariably find that the lack of universal appeal simply leads to sales that are too low to sustain the level of graphical quality required to stay in the AAA game.
- If they make the kind of games that they're good at making, and lower the budget and graphical quality to a sustainable level, they are almost always really successful. But being able to swing their technology dick around seems to be a point of pride, or something, and making games that don't look like AAA games feeds into this bizarre narrative that they (and Japan) are becoming irrelevant, and the message boards are filled with wailing and gnashing of teeth, etc. Those don't seem like particularly strong negatives to me, but they only make a few games that fit that bill, so I guess that stuff bothers someone, somewhere, who is in a position to make those kinds of decisions.
It's pretty sad to see Capcom in such a hole - they were hands-down my favourite company in video games from 2005 right on through 2010. The fall since then has just been staggering. I'm just glad that Monster Hunter has (so far) been safe from all the shit that's been dragging the company down.
foxuzamaki
Doesn't read OPs, especially not his own
thats like 2 average AAA games
Can they even get away with that?
Which are not ousourced at this point?
I don't know if Deep Down is outsourced or not, but that's something.
ShinMaruku
Member
Sega owns most of the arcades and pachinko machines and this year made a 300% boost to their profits. Don't look down on Service games.
That happens when the management of a company don`t play his own products.
Sega would be dead without Sammy.
Sega would be dead without Sammy.
maabus1999
Member
After taking a quick look at Morningstar info and their current financials, I would say they aren't in dire trouble yet.
Notes:
Margins are terrible, but positive.
Stock price might be a tad too high at 40x earnings.
Stock is still over book value considerably.
Almost no debt.
Capcom is paying dividends, which can be cut if cash flow gets tight.
Debt rating from 2012 is still above Junk so they can look to external markets for financing still.
Their current assets outweight current liabilities significantly. Good thing.
Cash flow is still positive. Good thing. Cash flow from operating activities (running the core business) not so hot though. Still positive.
Notes:
Margins are terrible, but positive.
Stock price might be a tad too high at 40x earnings.
Stock is still over book value considerably.
Almost no debt.
Capcom is paying dividends, which can be cut if cash flow gets tight.
Debt rating from 2012 is still above Junk so they can look to external markets for financing still.
Their current assets outweight current liabilities significantly. Good thing.
Cash flow is still positive. Good thing. Cash flow from operating activities (running the core business) not so hot though. Still positive.
Nope. Supposedly they cancelled everything AAA they had started on about 8 months ago so they could reassess what their future plans for new consoles would be.
If I had to guess, another fighting game that isn't SF, Dragon's Dogma 2, Deep Down, Working in collab with Namco for Tekken X SF (which, amazingly, is still happening...), and everything else is pie in the sky.
I think Capcom is feeling the loss of talent now more than they ever have. It's new IP time, time to build for a new generation, and they've got nothing on the books but sequels, and a game that's so far out, they won't even give us a good understanding of what it is. There's no confidence there.
They become Sega.
Diablohead
Member
Anything can happen, look at how well RE6 did.
Monster Hunter and I guess Deep Down. That's all I know for certain.
I wouldn't count the Street Fighter 4 update at all. It's an update after all.
Resident Evil-wise, I expect we will see a new one next year, be it Resident Evil 7 (if they had any sense it would be that unless they intend to reboot the series) or another Revelations-type game.
We do have TGS coming up and if they had any sense they will announce one or two major titles.
I mean when Capcom goes down and all of their IPs get scattered.
Seeing as how I work for Capcom (their Beeline mobile branch), and I have mouths to feed, so it would bother me quite a bit if we went under.
We all want the company to turn its fortunes around. We are working really hard to right the ship, although it may not seem like it to outsiders.
Baron_Calamity
Member
No, not at all. Businesses often don't hoard cash.Their assets are worth more than that and the Japanese government and industry would protect it with loans and reorganization. That isn't to say they aren't perfectly safe but they are better off than many others.
Doc Holliday
SPOILER: Columbus finds America
They'll be fine once next gen gets going.
Street Fighter V
Resident Evil reboot or something
Monster Hunter
New IPs
Street Fighter V
Resident Evil reboot or something
Monster Hunter
New IPs
Hasn't MS spent enough buying 3rd party exclusives? x)
More seriously I can see Nintendo or Sony possibly acquiring it, but not MS when you consider how many handheld related IPs they have. Unless they decide to sell off their IP.
Riposte
Member
I don't think you refuted anything and I stand by exactly what I said. The idea Ono is the last one true talent at Capcom reads like your reality has been constructed from press releases and conferences with no real understanding of the "talent" required to make a game (games Ono may not even be a producer for).
Moreover, a lot of people like to carelessly mix "business smarts" with their own resentful convictions (which may reflect a preference for games released during the PS2 or earlier). It tougher to be a Japanese action game dev these days and I don't think making more games like Kamiya's The Wonderful 101 will suddenly change their fortunes. It is not like DmC and MGR weren't in the same ballpark in reception despite people taking gleeful satisfaction in the former failing and holding up the latter as an amazing success. Basically, despite what I may feel (assuming I care) for each and any individual business decision, I think people like to talk a lot of shit from an emotional place while sounding like they are studied.
Stone Ocean
Member
That we know of? Deep Down could be considered, I guess?
SEGA has a somewhat clear vision and is not fumbling around trying to tie it's own shoes.
To be fair, no one wants to see Capcom fail. Quite the opposite.
But Capcom is one of the most poorly managed dev houses out there. The upper branches decisions regarding steps taken this generation are biblical out of touch with the state of the market.
The entire dev process from inception to release regarding LP3 is fucking bewildering. There is no point where any point of that process could be considered a sane decision.
I think it's more that they have a strong relationship with PC developers who know their market and do a great job getting their name, progress and mantra out there. Sega is still doing a fairly piss poor job at marketing stuff like Total War, TCA having to do a ton of word of mouth marketing to get people excited about it, just like Sumo had to do with Sonic All Star Racing Transformed (spend a couple mill on Nascar promotion, then skimp on TV ads on networks aimed for children, good fucking job Sega...christ.). It works for them, so they don't touch it too much and let the process flourish.
Riposte
Member
You are gravely underestimating how bratty and resentful people can be.
I tought that since they have a strong relationship with all three platformholders things were going fine for Capcom, but it seems that's not enough.
I'm wondering how bad would be the situation if they didn't have the money MS/Sony/Nintendo gave them for the exclusive games.
I'm wondering how bad would be the situation if they didn't have the money MS/Sony/Nintendo gave them for the exclusive games.
Not when Microsoft's investors want them to turn a complete profit on the Xbox brand, they don't. The Xbox division is billions of dollars in the red already, & you can bet that their investors want them to turn a profit at every single turn. That means: No more moneyhatting, etc.
It would be best if it were to go to either Nintendo or Sony, especially as the Xbox brand isn't very popular in Japan.
ridethepiggy
Banned
As I said outside of the developers and others who are innocent I don't care if the company goes bankrupt. I'm sure you and others are working hard but the higherups are incompetent and the proof is in the pudding.
Glass Rebel
Member
Capcom's biggest mistake this gen was giving people 3 good games for the price of one with RE6. Funnily enough they did the same thing with Okami last gen.
Not sure where this Microsoft Japan fanfiction is coming from.
Not sure where this Microsoft Japan fanfiction is coming from.
maabus1999
Member
Guys, cash on hand is not that important as long as you have the cash flow to support operations. And right now Capcom has positive cash flow, even if it is not as hot as last quarter.
Way too many people overthinking (and incorrectly) what this number means.
Way too many people overthinking (and incorrectly) what this number means.
gundamkyoukai
Member
Namco is not really in any trouble and are one of the few Japanese pubs that got there act together IMO plus the got Bandai which makes loads of other stuff .
As for Capcom yeah things not that great right now but they far from in trouble and with MH4 coming out they alright .
Meh, at the end of the day, that's just the unfiltered misama of the internet. "They don't cater to me, so fuck'em". Those same people are the ones crying about the lack of a Megaman title every other day or pirate DmC because "DAT AIN'T DANTE! BUT I STILL WANA PLAY IT!"
Tony Redgrave
Member
They just need to get it together, they have some of the most iconic franchises around but they keep outsourcing and unsuccessfully trying to reinvent them.
If they hadn't turn RE in a big messy four campaign game and instead focused on bringing back the series' horror roots (something more akin to the original Dead Space) they'd be in a better position now, outsourcing DMC wasn't an specially good idea either I kind of liked DmC but it's clear that it was a tortuous change that has dome more damage than good to the IP overall.
IMO they just need to start making GOOD games, they have some of the best gameplay mechanics/motion capture/cinematics around the industry but they keep trying to appease to western audiences and they are turning all their IP's in weird Hollywood-esque parodies of themselves. They need to hire better writers, focus on a single idea that works, listen to what fans want and they'll do better eventually.
If they hadn't turn RE in a big messy four campaign game and instead focused on bringing back the series' horror roots (something more akin to the original Dead Space) they'd be in a better position now, outsourcing DMC wasn't an specially good idea either I kind of liked DmC but it's clear that it was a tortuous change that has dome more damage than good to the IP overall.
IMO they just need to start making GOOD games, they have some of the best gameplay mechanics/motion capture/cinematics around the industry but they keep trying to appease to western audiences and they are turning all their IP's in weird Hollywood-esque parodies of themselves. They need to hire better writers, focus on a single idea that works, listen to what fans want and they'll do better eventually.
They'll be fine for the near future as Monster Hunter basically prints money for the time being. However, if MH substantially declines in popularity and they don't have a successor in place, they will be in a very bad situation. However, I do believe that in the event of a financial crisis in the company, Nintendo would give some 'assistance'; however that would act only as palliative care if the underlying issues are deal with.
Stone Ocean
Member
They also forgive in a heartbeat if they show something interesting.
Mobile.but they are already doing it so I don't know
SEGA has the same problem guess SE is next.
SEGA *had* the same problem, they are pretty flush with cash right now.
Both Capcom and SE are in trouble.