After the main announcements for Resident Evil AND Monster hunter at Summer Game Fest, a reader explains why he thinks Capcom it’s going really well at the moment.
I just finished watching This year’s Summer Games Festival and the biggest advantage I have is that Capcom’s operation is not slowing down. They opened the show with Resident Evil Veronica and even by the end I think it was the most exciting thing on display. It wasn’t a bad show, with a lot of interesting games, but thanks to the leaks there weren’t many surprises and nothing was shown for long enough to get a real feel for it.
A remake of Code: Veronica was also revealed, but no one knew what it would be like, so it didn’t really matter. I didn’t even realize that was what the trailer was for until they said Claire Redfield’s name. I should have guessed it though, not only because of the data, but also because their graphics have a certain look to them.
Although Code: Veronica is a tricky game to remake as there are a lot of parts taken from other games, I’m sure they’ll do a great job considering they’re not only on fire in general right now, but doubly so when it comes to Resident Evil.
Before I go any further, I am aware that companies are not your friend and the only thing Capcom cares about is money. But there’s clearly a world of difference between how they make that money and someone who likes it EA OR Activity or even Xbox. Capcom’s current evil plan for world domination is… make high quality games, give players what they want and experiment with new IP. Also, they haven’t fired anyone in any large numbers, as far as I know.
The plan is working better than they could have imagined and everyone is rushing to copy them. Oh no, wait… no one is copying them at all. Well, that’s not entirely true. Many companies have jumped into remakes because Capcom’s Resident Evil has been so successful. But things like Dead Space haven’t been as successful because the original game wasn’t that well-loved and EA seemed to expect it to sell a billion copies.
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When it didn’t, they immediately lost interest and that was that. Needless to say, they didn’t suddenly try to make new IP or put a new emphasis on quality, but they started firing people for no particular reason.
It’s been clear for a while now that Japanese publishers are treating the current generation very differently than American companies, but I don’t think any publisher, including Nintendothere has been such an obvious focus on quality. Capcom are not magical, as they had problems with Monster Hunter Wilds and personally I didn’t particularly like it Dragon’s Dogma 2 a lot, but in this case I think it’s really the thought that counts.
Capcom has realized that they can make more money if their games are good, which you’d think was so obvious it’s pointless to say, but I don’t think it’s obvious at all for some of these companies, especially the American ones. What do you think when Activision started blaming Call Of Duty sales started to decline?
I expect all sorts of convoluted excuses, about demographic targeting and microtransaction pricing. I’ll bet anything no one said, ‘Maybe we should make sure the other one is good?
Unlike Capcom, I don’t think Nintendo is doing particularly well at the moment, but their entire existence depends on one thing: they make good games. And no matter what happens in games, including making stupid decisions or having bland consoles, it always ensures that they survive.
But the thing that really separates Capcom from Nintendo is that Capcom is much more interested in trying out new IP and doesn’t care if it doesn’t work. Dragon’s Dogma, Exoprimal, Kunitsu-Gami: The Path of the Goddess, pragmatic… only two of them were hits and yet they keep trying, while the only big budget new IP Nintendo has released in the last few generations is Splatoon.
Capcom is also much less nervous about bringing back old franchises that may not be popular. Nintendo (or Sega or Bandai Namco, I’m not trying to single out Nintendo here, but to me they’re closer to Capcom) age to bring back an old series and when they do they make a song and dance about it. Most companies would never do it bring back Onimushabut Capcom is just getting on with it and doing it.
I don’t mean to bash a company, and they’ll probably prove me wrong right away and do something terrible now (I’m already worried about their AI attitude) but this isn’t really about Capcom, it’s about the idea that the best way to make money in games is… to make good games.
This is made to seem like a naive and simplistic point of view, but Capcom is showing that it’s just good business sense.
From reader Monson
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