Capcom is learning from its missteps says Dead Rising 3 producer

The last couple of years have not been kind to Capcom. Once a powerhouse company that could do no wrong, recent releases have either been absolute failures or just poor performers at retail. And with the gaming industry being as unforgiving as it is, such performances don’t bode well for even the biggest of developers. But Capcom could be poised for a return to solid gaming.

With games such as DmC: Devil May Cry, Resident Evil 6 and Lost Planet 3 faring badly at the gaming box office, Capcom has had to look deep and hard at why other titles such as Monster Hunter have done so much better in comparison. “Capcom is in a growth and adjustment period,” Capcom Vancouver’s Mike Jones said to OXM.

The game’s changed, new consoles are coming out… Everything’s not out there in the open, right? There are portfolio discussions about next gen and mobile and digital and all this kind of stuff. They’re well aware of our history, our strong properties, strong franchises, and they absolutely want to make the best content for gamers.

I promise you that everybody who works at Capcom is a huge Capcom fan. There’s nobody who works at Capcom who’s like ‘yeah, whatever’ – most people f**king love Capcom. So they’re definitely having all the right discussions, but it’s a big company, a big global company, and it’s hard to get all those pieces moving in the right direction quickly.

As for the fact that Capcom has had more misses than hits this year, Jones thinks that Capcom will be due for a comeback with the new console generation. “I think as the new console generation develops, there’s a lot of new stuff coming,” Jones said.

Deep Down on PS4, Dead Rising 3 on Xbox One, trying to bring back Strider… Capcom’s had its missteps, it’s learning, it’s definitely trying to make quality content – if nothing else, I can say that Capcom has always valued quality. That message might not always seem obvious, but definitely from the inside, I can promise you that their decisions are based on getting the best quality content.

Sometimes they make mistakes. Sometimes they work with partners who – sometimes games won’t come out right, because there isn’t enough funding or time or whatever it is, but they’re trying and I think they’re on the right track.

If you look at their track record over the past year or two, there have been some successes in there, some failures in there, and a lot of lessons to be learned, people are listening and they’re learning, and I think you’ll see a lot of big stuff over the next couple of years.

The last thing I want to see is for an iconic game developer to fail. Capcom is responsible for plenty of games that helped shape gamers all across the world, but they’ve lost that touch in recent years. Dead Rising 3 though, might be a return to form that I’m hoping will signal the start of a new age for the company.

And if they’ve genuinely learnt from all the flops they’ve released in recent years, that’ll make me a very happy man.

Do you think Capcom can turn things around? Have you tried Dead Rising 3 yet? Let us know what you think below.

Last Updated: November 29, 2013