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A leaner, meaner Capcom in 2015

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Crapcom

When I was growing up, Capcom was easily my favourite development house and publisher. Just about everything the company made was guaranteed to be gold. They’ve given me some of my very favourite games and series, like Street Fighter, Mega Man, Resident Evil, Okami, Onimusha, Ghosts and Goblins – and the list goes on for what seems like perpetuity. In more recent times tough, the company’s image has been tarnished, and a Capcom logo is no longer a guarantee of any sort of quality. It is, after all, on the Resident Evil 6 and Lost Planet 3 box. Capcom reckons this year’s the year to change that.

“The chairman of our company realised that we weren’t trading on the seal of quality we used to, so we decided to rejig development but do it at a time when the new formats were coming through and install bases are low,” Capcom’s commercial director Andy Davis told MCV.  “Well, that was the theory, no-one saw those consoles coming out of the gates like they did.”

Capcom wasn’t as flexible as it should have been with the older consoles.

“We had a more rigid structure back in the day, harder to adapt and less flexible,” says marketing head Antoine Molant.  “Today we are leaner, and that means the same team that deals with the development in Japan also directly deals with the market, and they have an understanding of all aspects of marketing, sales, development etcetera. And that makes us stronger.”

The company is now focused on releasing fewer, but better games. They’ll no longer be trying to make games to fit the market, wasting their time with “me-too” sorts of games. Instead, they’ll be making games that they want to make.

“A lot of the people who are here now were here before the restructure happened, so just getting through that process motivates everyone now that we have product coming through,” Davis added. “But it’s also knowing that the product is well designed – we are only trying to bring decent product to market.

“We have a solid mid-term strategy with the physical market, the digital stuff and everything else in between, and everything has been streamlined in the business – it is all re-focused and it is a much better place.”

I hope so. Capcom’s fallen out of favour with a great many gamers, and it’ll have to claw its way back to prominence. The best way to do that, is with great games – like a Resident Evil game that’s not completely crap.

Last Updated: February 2, 2015

9 Comments

  1. Jac7

    February 2, 2015 at 14:36

    Give the gamers a Resident Evil 2 remake in the vein of the recently released remastered Resident Evil and everybody would love Capcom again.

    Reply

    • Tosh MA

      February 2, 2015 at 14:38

      I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m just as tired of remasters as I am about day 1 patches and broken games.

      Reply

      • Jac7

        February 2, 2015 at 14:43

        I totally get that, but this is something I always wanted to play. Never got to play the remake – think it released in the Dreamcast or something, so this is pure joy. It also serves as pure nostalgia. And playing through it now makes me realise just how easy today’s games have become.

        Reply

    • seraphym

      February 2, 2015 at 23:53

      heck no, I hope they don’t waste even a single hour on remastering those. Make more new better RE games. Revelations 2 looks good so far, just keep them coming Capcom!

      Reply

  2. Hammersteyn

    February 2, 2015 at 14:43

    They were the king of arcade beat em up games. I grew up with Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, Punisher,
    Captain Commando and Final Fight. Why can’t they make more games like these??? Or bring balk Ghosts and Goblins,UN Squadron or even Darkstalkers. Where’s Megaman!!!??? They would make tons of cash if they kickstarter any of these titles.

    Reply

    • Tosh MA

      February 2, 2015 at 14:44

      If they release Megaman now, they’d be competing with Might #9. And at this point, I’d be inclined to go for Mighty #9 over a new Megaman.

      Reply

  3. Tosh MA

    February 2, 2015 at 14:57

    Also, no love for the header? Come on peeps. It’s not Hansie, but it’s still pretty funny. 😛

    Reply

  4. Viking Of Science

    February 2, 2015 at 15:20

    They Should just finish 1 of the 5 Megaman games they cancelled after Keiji Inafune left the company….

    Reply

  5. sedoi

    February 15, 2015 at 19:04

    meaner? is it even possible. They already on EA level

    Reply

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