Capcom continues downward spiral due to poor decisions

A look at Japanese game developer Capcom and their downward trend of poor sales and questionable consumer tactics, which includes blaming the cancellation of future Darkstalkers fighting game titles on fans not buying the HD remake Darkstalkers: Resurrection.

[Donnieboi]

They announced Breath of Fire 6 for phones-_-. I know portables are popular in their native Japan, but couldn't they have just put it on DS/3DS/PSP download/Vita? That's a total of 4 portables, 2 of which are backwards compatible with their predecessors (not to mention that they have Buttons--unlike cellphones). Which would = a lot of sales. What the hell is Capcom doing? I sure hope it's not pay-to-win.

[Need4Game]

Release Cryengine Monster Hunter Online in the west, and Capcom may recover.

[Jyndal]

It's going to take more than that.

[tiffac008]

What makes it worse, is Capcom is not even sure they want to localize BoF6, even if its for the PC/iOS/Android. :/

[DragonKnight]

I've always said that a company that releases globally should think globally. Just because your home base is in Japan doesn't mean that the world will like what Japan likes. If you're not going to broaden your base to appeal to a wider market, then don't sell in that wider market.

I would say though that Capcom's biggest flaw isn't their expectations, it's their inability to listen to their fans save and except when doing so allows them to milk a franchise with very little effort. I.E. Super Street Fighter 4 Ultra Turbo Arcade Edition.

[EyePawd]

I've always thought that Capcom's biggest issue is that they really only seem concerned with the Japanese market. Before the fighting game community internationally took off, you would never see Capcom take user feedback on something like Street Fighter. They are starting to do that, but, it's just not enough.

I will defend the constant updates to Street Fighter some, though. The tournament scene is so large and strong for that game that it DOES require attention and balancing, even if it is technically a five year-old game.

[s8anicslayer]

Bring Resident Evil back to it's survival horror roots and that will start improving capcoms worth in gaming, recent RE's have been capcoms demise and contracting these c class devs for development have utterly destroyed them.

[nick309]

Capcom is now Crapcom, abandoing all their franchises & doing dumb decisions, heck even a kid could manage what games to make for it , but no, they rather make this crappy games.

[3-4-5]

Breath of Fire 6 for Phones = 20,000 sales

Breath of Fire 6 - Vita,3DS,PS3/PS4 = 300,000-800,000 in sales.

They are not intelligent.

[EyePawd]

I'd love a new, console Breath Of Fire. Sigh, if only.

[paul-p1988]

Putting Monster Hunter on the Wii U, leaving behind the MASSIVE Playstation fanbase already established for the series and taking it to the console with the smallest install base which is more regarded as a family console than a hardcore console (Monster Hunter is a pretty Hardcore series)... yeah, good move Capcom...

[dredgewalker]

I'm still pissed off about that, taking Monster Hunter away from the PS for years is one of Capcoms biggest sins to me.

[LouisGarcia]

I bought a Wii U just for Monster Hunter, but I see your point.

[ShaunCameron]

Eh. No. That's the handheld MH you're talking about that had the massive PlayStation fanbase. The MH the Wii U got was an upgraded version of MH3 (a Wii exclusive) that outsold all the previous home-console MH games combined becoming the most successful home-console MH game to date.

[tarbis]

ummm... lol
http://www.vgchartz.com/gam...
http://www.vgchartz.com/gam...

[paul-p1988]

It was a Sony handheld, therefore part of the massive Sony fanbase, but they also released a few on PS2 and Monster Hunter Portable 3rd HD (Japan only) on PS3. Then they decided to jump to Nintendo..... which makes no sense to me if i'm honest.

[hankmoody]

Maybe if they hadn't released this game at a ridiculous price, I'd have gone for it.

[EyePawd]

Agreed. 15 for a spruced up port was five dollars too much.

[hankmoody]

Had it come out the gate at $10, I could've accepted that. Capcom is losing their minds.

[GARBAGE LICKER]

Monster Hunter 4 will help when it comes out next month in Japan

[Kingthrash360]

mh, while iits a great franchise isnt the end all be all.
capcom used to be a legendary company....defining whole genres with games like mega man, final fight, street fighter, resident evil, and devil may cry. when thos games first launched the changed the game...I mean they are world wide hits that they've KILLED with terrible decisions....re6 wtf? mega man skipped a few generations already, can a brotha get a new updated mega man? wtf? same with final fight. dmc while I enjoyed the new game plenty of fans hated the new look. sf4 ink look is also criticized not to mention the consistently bad decisions they've made like mh is a Nintendo exclusive....should've put that out on everything...and now bof6....stupid after stupid decisions. they know what their fans want but the seem to want to do the opposite.....somebody hit the fail button.

can I get a amen?

[Jyndal]

Sales not up to par?
Blame the consumer!
It works for Capcom, it can work for you!

[EyePawd]

The sad thing is that Capcom posited the EXACTLY SAME SCENARIO when they did the Marvel vs Capcom 2 re-release. They said at the time that they'd only consider an MvC3 if the re-release sold well. It sold incredibly well. I think this is what created unrealistic expectation.

Of course, you can't compare MvC2 and Darkstalkers in popularity. MvC2 is considered widely to be one of the most popular fighting games ever. Once again, Capcom going off past expectation and ruining things for consumers.

[andrewsqual]

Square Enix followed and now Konami and Kojima are following the same, make the games completely for Americans. Think of the EU boxart for ICO and now picture the US one. That is what has happened to these companies.
Keifer Sutherland, that is all.

[EyePawd]

Squeenix is another company just like Capcom: Unable to see the forest due to the trees. They all have a lot of introspection to go through.

[gano]

yup.
regardless if anyone in the industry admits it, somthing about japanese
games and development being passed on to western studios is fucin shyt up.

The damn companies aren't even thinking straight anymore.
I repeat worse gen ever.

[Godmars290]

Finally getting a new BoF, and its likely only going to be a quality lower than the first. No matter that it will look far better.

[MasterPain]

I bought it. Love Darkstalkers. Sucks that they won't make an new one. Hope they change their minds.

[Master-H]

What kills Capcom are three things :
Their DLC strategies (disc-locked content,releasing numerous versions of each game with DLC added in , see street fighter, mvc etc).
Trying to westernize their games to make it appeal more to the western market (See Dmc)
Trying to appeal to the 'CoD crowd' (did it with the resident evil franchise , and they even said it publicly for Dead Rising 3)

[DVAcme]

What amazes me is that Japanese gaming companies are INSANELY optimistic for sales of their games, to the point that they set expectations way too high and consider even a successful game disappointing. For example, Squeenix considered sales of the Tomb Raider reboot disappointing, when it's sold 3.4 million copies, which is a hell of a sales figure. Capcom predicted that Dragon's Dogma was going to sell 10 MILLION! WHAT?! Seriously?? Those are GRAND THEFT AUTO-level sales, how could they possibly reach such a ridiculous projection? Squeenix's case is particularly frustrating cause, because the sales of some titles didn't reach their ridiculous expectations, they started laying people off and they did so from their Western divisions, when those are the guys making the most critically and financially successful games the company's publishing, like Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and Just Cause.

Seriously, I'm flabbergasted at the nosedive Japanese gaming companies have done in terms of global appeal and game quality. Quite simply, the best and most ambitious games in development are not done in Japan anymore.

[SwiftArsonist]

ultra sf4 needs to come for the Vita

https://www.facebook.com/Ga...

[gano]

like hiphop the jig is up.
we are older my brothers and sisters.
Hang on to your classics, future gens don't look pretty.
so mm and bof with oni is out.