Capcom USA
Latest
Watch Capcom's Resident Evil Showcase at 5PM ET
Capcom is about to show off new gameplay footage for the latest installment of its venerated Resident Evil horror shooter franchise, “Resident Evil Village.”
Capcom US, Japan's creative relationship with UK's Ninja Theory
DmC: Devil May Cry represents Capcom's focused, intentional effort to add western flair to a traditionally Japanese-styled game, left in the care of UK-entrenched studio Ninja Theory. Both Capcom Japan and US left the westernization entirely in Ninja Theory's hands, only providing advice on the game's core essentials and at times making strong suggestions about characters and controls. Otherwise, Capcom took a hands-off approach to the game's modernization.Among three branches of two studios in three disparate areas of the globe, creating anything successfully – let alone a new, yet familiar game in a popular franchise – was bound to be frustrating. According to Capcom producers Motohide Eshiro and Alex Jones, it certainly was stressful working with Ninja Theory, but it was also successful.Read their thoughts on Ninja Theory and the international DmC development process below.
Capcom's main Street Fighter Seth Killian exiting the company on June 22
Capcom USA's strategic marketing director of online and community Seth Killian announced today that he's vacating his six-year position. Killian's known for being the face of Capcom's fighting games as of late (aside from producer Yoshinori Ono), not to mention being a co-founder of the annual EVO fighting game championships where he goes by the name "S-Kill." His last day with Capcom is this Friday, June 22.Killian took to his blog on Capcom-Unity to announce his departure, where he said, "In no uncertain terms, Capcom has been a dream for me." He thanked a variety of folks at Capcom – from Ono to Christian Svensson, and dedicated quite a few words specifically to the fighting game community. "Both as individuals and as a group, you have taught me more than I could have ever thought possible," he wrote.Killian didn't tell where he's heading next, but he did note, "I have chosen a new path which will let me embrace a new dream." Here's hoping he doesn't dream about being a bathroom attendant on an oil rig! What a twist that'd be!
Capcom sales down year-over-year, due to lack of 'major titles'
Capcom released its earnings for the first half of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012 (which puts the halfway point at September 30). Net sales are down year-over-year, from 40.7 billion yen ($522 million) in 2010 to 29.3 billion yen ($375.1 million) in 2011. Net income is down 878 million yen ($11.3 million). Capcom attributes the downward trend to the fact that "no major titles were launched in Consumer Online Games business." As for the titles that did come out in that period, Capcom sold 450,000 units of the Japan-only Monster Hunter Portable 3rd HD Ver., the PS3 port of the PSP hit. Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition brought Oni into 400,000 homes worldwide, and Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D also sold 400,000 worldwide. "These figures are shipment volumes," president Haruhiro Tsujimoto noted in his summary of the results, "so digital downloads are on top of those figures." The second half of Capcom's year will be anchored by the December 10 launch of Monster Hunter Tri-G in Japan (of which Capcom expects to sell 1.2 million copies), and Dragon's Dogma (1.5 million), Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (2 million), and Street Fighter X Tekken (2 million) worldwide. Oh, and Snoopy's Street Fair for iPhone. In a Q&A, the publisher said it "will consider launching [Monster Hunter Tri-G] overseas," but hasn't come to a decision yet. Capcom also announced that it's merging its North American subsidiaries, Capcom USA and Capcom Entertainment, Inc. In other news, Capcom had two North American subsidiaries.
Capcom appoints new CEO of US and European branches
Capcom has promoted Kazuhiko Abe, former director and managing corporate officer of Capcom's worldwide operations, to the position of CEO and President of Capcom USA and Capcom Europe. (Well, we assume it's a promotion.) Abe joined Capcom in 2003 as general manager of management planning and also served as CFO. Previous to this announcement, Capcom had only one CEO worldwide, founder Kenzo Tsujimoto. The assignment of a separate CEO for Western operations -- even an executive from Capcom Japan -- suggests that Capcom plans for its US and European branches to act more independently from the home office. [Image credit: Capcom.co.jp]
