Home Gaming Capcom Slashes Profit forecast, Blames Lost Planet 2

Capcom Slashes Profit forecast, Blames Lost Planet 2

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lpgow Resident Evil 5 and Street Fighter Iv were excellent performers for Capcom; critically and publically adored – with sales to match.

Lost Planet 2, on the other hand; a game the company had pegged to be a flagship, pretty much tanked – both in the hearts of gamers, and at retail. It’s now one of the reasons that Capcom have lowered their forecasts for this fiscal year.

The company now expects sales totalling 40,500 million yen for the six month period between April and September this year, considerably lower than their initial forecast of 45,300 million.

"There was a delay in the release of the major title Dead Rising 2," says the associated press release. "In addition, the rapid increase in the yen’s value relative to the US dollar and Euro has reduced sales and operating income.” "Furthermore, Capcom has been unable to offset the large shortfall in sales relative to the plan for the flagship title Lost Planet 2 that was released overseas in the fiscal year’s first quarter."

Dead Rising 2’s been much more enthusiastically received, so hopefully things will pick up for the Street Fighter house. I wonder how long it’ll be though, before Megaman creator Keiji Inafune blames the slump on Capcom’s games just not being western enough.

Source : Capcom

Last Updated: October 5, 2010

4 Comments

  1. Bobby Kotick loves James

    October 5, 2010 at 15:04

    I disagree strongly with Inafune, I think Capcom shouldn’t try to emulate the west, but be mindful of cultural differences and nuances. I can’t help but think of Kill Bill in this regard. Some actually enjoyed Quentin Tarantino’s pile of manure, but if you truly liked a good Eastern action movie (kung fu or otherwise), Kill Bill actually annoyed the snot out of you. It even paid homage to David Carradine, who was best remembered for his role in Kung Fu, which in itself was a camel’s hump. I know Tarantino is a huge fan of Asian movies, but that doesn’t mean that he can make an authentic one, because it comes down to cultural nuances, perceptions and the inevitable plunge into stereotypes.

    Reply

  2. Christo Le Grange

    October 6, 2010 at 08:17

    …so what you’re telling me is…your asian?!?…sorry, an oriental?!?

    Reply

  3. Christo Le Grange

    October 6, 2010 at 08:25

    well, anyone could have told you that Lost Planet would be mediocre…purely based on the fact that the first 1 is passable…

    Reply

  4. James Kotick

    October 6, 2010 at 12:52

    Ok! It seems my point went straight over your head.

    In a nutshell (and let’s consider it from a South African perspective), given where we come from and how our individual cultures and shared history have shaped us as South Africans, our understanding of others are very much depended on our perceptions of them (i.e. mostly formulated into stereotypes). For instance, what I think Zulu culture is like, is dependant not on the reality of that culture, but my perception of it, which in itself is influenced by being from the Cape, reasonably educated, and very European in mind. I may know bits and pieces of it, and I may find some of it abhorrent (i.e. ritualized slaughter of animals) or exciting (i.e. the dancing and the music), but much of it is based on my perceptions of the Zulus.

    Therefore, if I made a movie or a game on the Zulus, regardless of trying to be as accurate as possible, I will naturally miss cultural nuances and realities, and in most cases, will only be able to create something that approximates what it means to be Zulu or most likely, WHAT I THINK Zulu culture would be like.

    I.e Perception! And depending on the level of bigotry or even blind ignorance, what I produce my in fact be riddled with stereotypes.

    Similarly, the same can be said about Japanese trying to emulate Westerners or even trying to make games that they think Westerners (like you and me) might enjoy, when in fact, what intrigues us about the Japanese is how different their culture is to us. Similarly, and this is probably why Microsoft failed in Japan, is because an American company was trying to sell an item in a “Japanese way” to the Japanese and completely missing the point.

    I hope that kind of clarifies it for you.

    PS: The term “oriental” is actually considered a slur in many parts of the world, and no, I’m not Asian.

    Reply

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