Is Capcom the next THQ?
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FreedomFighter
Member
Monster Hunter 4 will not sell below expectations like RE6 did.
RE has alienated long time fans like myself with this new push to CoD-esque Action games instead of tried and true survival horror. The new fans they were coveting haven't come through in droves like they expected.
MH will be fine, RE doesn't serve as any kind of predictor for its success.
Talent Exodus. They shouldn't have ported Bio4 to PS2 and other transgressions to have Mikami and company leave.
Add in Inafune's outsourcing (that they're still doing, why!? It's bombed five times now and Inafune was shown the door! PULL UP FROM THE NOSEDIVE ON THIS! PULL UP!!!) and it's a double-whammy of losing money.
Oh, and then blame fans for "not supporting the series/all ya'll do is pirate it anyway," don't localize the better sequel to a side-game in the series. Localize and make it digital only (when said fans are niche and probably prefer retail) the next game in the series with no word for said sequel side-games localization.
Capcom only have themselves to blame.
block tower
Member
good, personally i find it asinine how poor a company like capcom is doing when capcom sits on ip's like Megaman, Viewtiful Joe, Monster Hunter, and God Hand. while either doing nothing with those licenses or simply doing stale ports or handheld sequels. maybe theyll finally sell off some ip's if capcom gets into enough financials trouble.
Don't worry, you can look forward to 3 more SF IV releases between now and SF V
Dr. Kitty Muffins
Member
Dump as many PS2 and PS1 games on PSN as quickly as possible. It won't be much but it is instant cash.
They're too busy catering to the west & outsourcing their projects, making bad business decisions (such as having us pay $20 for characters that were on the disc for Street Fighter x Tekken? Cancelling Rockman/Mega Man Legends 3, Mega Man Universe, etc.? C'mon...), I can go on & on.
-tetsuo-
Unlimited Capacity
Wut
Good write up, I agree completely.
Stone Ocean
Member
It's not as much as not understanding what fans want as it is not really caring because they want more sales than just the fans' - even though series like RE have a gigantic fanbase.
awesomebro
Member
Yup..Either Capcom or Square Enix will be the next THQ. Capcom seems to be in overdrive though.
You would be surprised.
I doubt Viewtiful Joe and God Hand would have the audience to support a full AAA release. Now, they could assign very small teams to these games and make an indie-like release for $15, similar to Blood Dragon or Call of Juarez.
I think releases like that could be quite successful.
Triggerhappytel
Member
I think either of those would make moves to buy Capcom, or at least divide their assets. MS would probably be interested in Dead Rising along with Capcom Vancouver, and perhaps Resident Evil too.
I don't see this happening any time soon though. It would be an extremely worrying turn of events if it did. THQ had very few dependable assets, while Capcom have at least three series that sell around 5 million or more per mainline instalment. They just need to reduce costs and cut the dead weight.
The difference is that Monster Hunter isn't pissing on its fanbase, unlike RE. At least by now.
I want them to go out THQ style, yes. Sell off their studios and IPs. Megaman to Nintendo, Resident Evil to Zenimax/Bethesda/Tango, Dragon's Dogma to somebody, DMC to Platinum/Somebody that will moneyhat Platinum making DMC games, Okami to Platinum/Nintendo/Sony, etc.
I honestly think just about any noteworthy developer or publisher at this point would be better than Capcom. Yes, even EA or Activision.
I honestly think just about any noteworthy developer or publisher at this point would be better than Capcom. Yes, even EA or Activision.
ShinMaruku
Member
And they are doing great now. remember they would not have merged if Sega never had 60-70% of the arcade hardware locked down.
Yes to the older fans Sega is dead but that company is doing alright they just need to fire sonic team and actually use what they got.
Stone Ocean
Member
Definitely. The problem is that they can't seem to grasp that and just go for the extremes, you're either an AAA or you're a handheld game/cheap mobage. No in between for mid/small scale productions.
1st Course
Member
How are they getting that figure?
I'm not an accounting guy but looking at their balance sheet I don't see anything that points to this figure:
http://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/data/pdf/result/2013/1st/result_2013_1st_04.pdf
I'm not an accounting guy but looking at their balance sheet I don't see anything that points to this figure:
http://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/data/pdf/result/2013/1st/result_2013_1st_04.pdf
ShinMaruku
Member
A new Gen allows them to come back into what they were if they learned from the stupid shit of last gen. (It's not just Japan that did dumb shit even EA and Activision blundered)
dragonflys545
Member
They say outsourcing should help. But look at how well everything is going. Good freaking job Capcom! You deserve it.
Krusenstern
Banned
In a perfect world Resident Evil would go to Tango Gameworks, Devil May Cry and Okami would go to Platinum etc. etc.
But if they go down I can't see anyone good getting their fingers on Capcom's IPs. And that worries me. I wouldn't want someone like Microsoft making Resident Evil or Bioware making Dragon's Dogma. That's stupid. Even more worrying if they go exclusive to a certain platform.
They made a loss on RE6, I doubt Street Fighter is making them crazy amounts of money and Monster Hunter is their only killer app but that's only selling like hotcakes in Japan.
Street Fighter
Resident Evil
Devil May Cry
Strider
Power Stone
Marvel vs. Capcom
Dino Crisis
Mega Man
Onimusha
Breath of Fire
Monster Hunter
Dead Rising
And so on. Can you imagine if something happened? It's like a damn buffet. There is so much potential in their IP. Anyhow, I have faith they'll get their shit in order.
Resident Evil
Devil May Cry
Strider
Power Stone
Marvel vs. Capcom
Dino Crisis
Mega Man
Onimusha
Breath of Fire
Monster Hunter
Dead Rising
And so on. Can you imagine if something happened? It's like a damn buffet. There is so much potential in their IP. Anyhow, I have faith they'll get their shit in order.
I would agree with him. Although Nintendo do rely on their successful IPs, they keep their major talented staff on those projects; which is different that just keeping the IP, but little of the original staff. The likes of Miyamoto, Sakurai, Eguchi, Aonuma, Koizuma, etc are retained, and when a transfer does happen it is very gradual. The exceptions are Yokoi (for obvious reasons) and Retro (which seems to have a really high turnover of staff for some reason); the closest you have to the Clover-Platinum scenario are the people who left Retro to make Armature (which isn't nearly the same scale) or when Sakurai briefly departed (and then returned).
You can't say the same about Capcom.
BLACK AMERICAN PSYCHO
Junior Member
Monster Hunter will save them.
Psycho_Mantis
Banned
Have you seen the Smash Bros Trailer and the excitement from people as they saw Mega Man?
I want to see a Mega Man game from Nintendo.
Sorry for being offtopic.
Yeah was alright. Now you see the hype for Mighty No.9. Thats on another level. 2 million funded, Inafune is back, a lot of veteran dev members it really is the sequel to the Megaman franchise the fanbase has wanted.
Sakurai and Nintendo say otherwise
Thats cute and all but its a not a megaman game which is what the fanbase has wanted for so long and is what we are getting with Might No.9.
Gormless Noodle
Member
They have extremely bad/incompetent management. I don't know how that happened, but it happened nonetheless.
They're putting bets on the wrong horses (such as Remember me), they're using core oriented franchises (Breath of Fire for instance) and cater them to a casual crowd that knows or cares absolutely nothing for them (instead of just making NEW franchises!), they target CoD players by abusing names of franchises (Resident Evil for instance) established in genres that have nothing to do with CoD and betray the (formerly) huge fanbases of said franchises making those franchises more and more irrelevant over time. And then of course, we have the outsourcing of beloved Japanese franchises to Western developers. There's nothing wrong with Western devs of course, they're making better games than ever before, but they have a different design philosophy, they simply do. Which makes it all the harder to meet expectations of an existing fanbase (and when you expect sales of about 2 million, you can be DAMN sure that fanbase matters). And of course, when you let people like Inafune and Mikami go, you have to be in possession of a dysfunctional/lobotomised rat-like brain, I can't really put it any other way.
But another exceptionally clear point that proves that the company is now run by incompetent, money grubbing, investor thugs, is that their plan for turning things around, once again hinges on DLC. Yes Capcom, DLC will save the day I'm sure. Can't go wrong.
They're putting bets on the wrong horses (such as Remember me), they're using core oriented franchises (Breath of Fire for instance) and cater them to a casual crowd that knows or cares absolutely nothing for them (instead of just making NEW franchises!), they target CoD players by abusing names of franchises (Resident Evil for instance) established in genres that have nothing to do with CoD and betray the (formerly) huge fanbases of said franchises making those franchises more and more irrelevant over time. And then of course, we have the outsourcing of beloved Japanese franchises to Western developers. There's nothing wrong with Western devs of course, they're making better games than ever before, but they have a different design philosophy, they simply do. Which makes it all the harder to meet expectations of an existing fanbase (and when you expect sales of about 2 million, you can be DAMN sure that fanbase matters). And of course, when you let people like Inafune and Mikami go, you have to be in possession of a dysfunctional/lobotomised rat-like brain, I can't really put it any other way.
But another exceptionally clear point that proves that the company is now run by incompetent, money grubbing, investor thugs, is that their plan for turning things around, once again hinges on DLC. Yes Capcom, DLC will save the day I'm sure. Can't go wrong.
Mostly still just incredibly pissed that BoF6 is a f2p phone game now. I hate them so fucking much, I can't even....
Baron_Calamity
Member
Thats correct. in fact investors start getting nervous when you have too much cash on hand.
SwiftDeath
Member
I'm sorry if my comment offended you
I meant more that I wouldn't miss capcom more than I wanted them to fail
It's sad when people lose their jobs but I won't support publishers/devs who make games I don't want to play
I was actually fine with Resident Evil 5 as I played it with my brother so the co-op elements worked well but it wasn't a particularly good RE game
I guess it had zombies though
RE6 was a lesser version of RE5
As for other games Capcom hasn't really impressed me in a long time
I buy quite a few dev games on launch to show support, Capcom hasn't been one since RE4
Stone Ocean
Member
Looking at that list makes me so depressed considering how many of those IPs are frozen.
jhmtehgamr20xx
Banned
I see you threw Sega in there because it's just popular to throw Sega's name around like that, but please check the facts: they're in great shape financially (even if most of it's from pachinko machines, still counts).Mobile.but they are already doing it so I don't know
SEGA has the same problem guess SE is next.
Could they do with actually going back to some of their top IP tho? Absolutely.
And Square...Brave Fencer Musashi 2 please...
Riposte
Member
Both of those games were made reusing assets of big games. Also "indie-like" lol.
gundamkyoukai
Member
SE needs to get there act together but they far from in trouble .
If i remember right they have a loads of cash they can use .
Still the need to get there management and work flow in order .
block tower
Member
but thats exactly what they should be doing, making middle tier games $15-$30 with franchises like Viewtiful Joe and God Hand. no one is asking for these hundred million dollar AAA games, we just want new installments on other franchises outside of Monster Hunter and Street Fighter. hell why hasnt there been a new Super Puzzle Fighter recently. i could go on and on.
Captain Chaos
Member
Hold onto your top talent. Let them go and here is the result.
TheBaronOfNA
Banned
To be fair, some of their current practices are just an extension of the ones that worked for them in the Pre HD era. It's just that is a very different world right now.
GeekyDad
Member
Sakurai and Nintendo say otherwise
Well, even dead people live on in the memories of those who loved them.
I've been thinking for a while that Nintendo, Sony, and MS might start buying these once great japanese companies to improve their first party offerings with a new stable of classic IPs. Capcom would be a great fit for Nintendo, outside of fighting games which seem to be most popular on Sony consoles.
jhmtehgamr20xx
Banned
This part really baffles me too. They're doing the same w/ Onimusha and I'm just like "dafuq?"; your Onimusha players are on PS3 and 360, they're expecting a big AA/AAA-like experience there, so they're obviously not on mobile. And yet here they are pushing it on mobile.
I understand they want the players in the mobile market, but the games that do well there are stuff thematically like Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja, aka not hardcore, mature-rated titles with occult themes, heavy violence etc.
It's almost like if From announced Dark Souls Mobile. It just doesn't compute.
Capcom doesn't produce Castlevania, that's Konami.
Capcom probably needs new management, but I don't see them, "ceasing to exist," like THQ. Even if they completely botched the next few years, a bigger fish would swoop in, just for the sake of eating up their IP's.
Ditto with Sega and Square Enix, though I get the sense that these two companies are starting to dislodge their skulls from their hindquarters. Whereas, Capcom still seems entirely and completely clueless, and shows zero inclination to correct their shortcomings.
Ditto with Sega and Square Enix, though I get the sense that these two companies are starting to dislodge their skulls from their hindquarters. Whereas, Capcom still seems entirely and completely clueless, and shows zero inclination to correct their shortcomings.
Dark_castle
Junior Member
Resident Evil: Revelation was good though.
Smaller game
Smaller development time
lower investment
lower overall-risk
priced around Indie titles
Old-school gameplay
appeal to hardcore fans
I don't see why Indie-like isn't a proper phrase for this type of development. I've never seen it used before, but it seems apt considering the amount of parallels I can draw.
And remember, to appeal to the correct fan base.
Resident Evil 6 and DMC both tried to widen the appeal of the games and failed miserably.