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Deep Down, Sales, current stable of IP, and Where Capcom Goes from Here

Ryuuga

Banned
Obligatory:

jYEELta.png
 

Jawmuncher

Member
I wouldn't even be surprised if we saw some shit like

"Okami 2" developed by Platinum and difectes by Kamiya.

Capcom might've jumped off using third party western devs. But I could see them starting to use either higher quality studios rather than the lowest bidder and those in Japan. Hell like all of the big Japanese studios are doing that and we even had that recent deal with Namco and Capcom for online code or whatever that was. Which is a start in general.

Edit: I dunno why I mix up Kamiya and Mikami lol
 

Fiendcode

Member
I wouldn't even be surprised if we saw some shit like

"Okami 2" developed by Platinum and difectes by Mikami.

Capcom might've jumped off using third party western devs. But I could see them starting to use either higher quality studios rather than the lowest bidder and those in Japan. Hell like all of the big Japanese studios are doing that and we even had that recent deal with Namco and Capcom for online code or whatever that was. Which is a start in general.
Good-Feel 2.5D Classic Mega Man pls.
 

Comandr

Member
Most likely, though MHW may end up losing some Japanese sales due to the game's western focus.

Have you actually seen impressions from Japanese people? They are stoked. So much so that "traditional" MH like XX is not even a consideration anymore, as seen in the video I linked. MHW isn't westernized, they just finally updated the damn series properly. MHXX might look a bit better, have more weapons and monsters, but as far as gameplay, it is remarkably similar to the first game 13 years ago.

MH games have been selling less and less in Japan. XX on switch sold horribly. Although that is mostly due to the fact that the hardcore day 1-ners probably just got it not long ago for 3ds. Asking another 5900 yen just a few months later for a prettier version of the same game is a hard pill to swallow.

Most of the negative impressions for MHW come from salty Nintendo fans in the west.
 

Shpeshal Nick

aka Collingwood
There's plenty of IPS they have that could be cheaper to make and tap into an older market with a fondness for those IPS like Power Stone and Maximo.

Yes, the sales of those 2 games today wouldn't set the world on fire, but I could easily see them making more profit than the others.
 

Neoxon

Junior Member
Have you actually seen impressions from Japanese people? They are stoked. So much so that "traditional" MH like XX is not even a consideration anymore, as seen in the video I linked. MHW isn't westernized, they just finally updated the damn series properly. MHXX might look a bit better, have more weapons and monsters, but as far as gameplay, it is remarkably similar to the first game 13 years ago.

MH games have been selling less and less in Japan. XX on switch sold horribly. Although that is mostly due to the fact that the hardcore day 1-ners probably just got it not long ago for 3ds. Asking another 5900 yen just a few months later for a prettier version of the same game is a hard pill to swallow.

Most of the negative impressions for MHW come from salty Nintendo fans in the west.
Thanks for the clarification, that may explain some of the negative (or lukewarm) impressions I came across on social media. In that case, Capcom has a winner on their hands.
 

dubq

Member
I'd be happy if they just rolled Deep Down into a new Dragon's Dogma, which is what a lot of people kind of expected anyway.
 

Neoxon

Junior Member
I'd be happy if they just rolled Deep Down into a new Dragon's Dogma, which is what a lot of people kind of expected anyway.
I'd definitely be down for that. At least it would allow for their work on Deep Down to not be for nothing.
 
By "western focus" you mean the game not being on a portable console right?

Yea, and thankfully the game not being on handheld will mean it'll actually catch on outside of Japan. I don't know why it took Capcom this long to realize you can't sell action games in the west on a fucking 2 inch screen with garbage controls.
 
Someone who used to work at Capcom Tokyo ( the main developer??), wrote this on facebook:



Can anyone translate it?
Meanwhile, here is google translation....

Just to clarify - Makoto Maeda was the director of Chaos Legion & (Sole) Planner/Designer on Giga Wing 2. And yeah, sounds like Maeda isn't happy at all with Capcom, it's quite the rant.
 

Vena

Member
Have you actually seen impressions from Japanese people? They are stoked. So much so that "traditional" MH like XX is not even a consideration anymore, as seen in the video I linked. MHW isn't westernized, they just finally updated the damn series properly. MHXX might look a bit better, have more weapons and monsters, but as far as gameplay, it is remarkably similar to the first game 13 years ago.

MH games have been selling less and less in Japan. XX on switch sold horribly. Although that is mostly due to the fact that the hardcore day 1-ners probably just got it not long ago for 3ds. Asking another 5900 yen just a few months later for a prettier version of the same game is a hard pill to swallow.

Most of the negative impressions for MHW come from salty Nintendo fans in the west.

The series is going to see a massive decline in Japan, that is a simple reality. Its not achieving 3DS sales, and the series as a whole has grown on the 3DS not declined, it hasn't sold the same "peak" but it has sold considerably more software over a much longer time and over a continued series of healthy titles and sales despite being annualized. Churn and new player roll over were effectively balanced for an annualized franchise, which is generally rare over half a decade. It has faltered with XX because no one wanted XX and Capcom initially said they would not make XX. So when they released XX, their audience wasn't interested.

And XX on Switch is just a mess from all sides and in all aspects, Capcom sabotaging their own release.

Feel free to read up on the performance in Japan recently:
Capcom sold more "primary" MH games on 3DS than on PSP.
On PSP MH had the highest peak but that's because MH phenomenon as we know now really exploded with Monster Hunter Freedom Unite* (had a really long tail) and converged strongly into its successor Monster Hunter Freedom 3.
It happens quite often that a game released around a franchise explosion has the highest peak.
An example is Super Mario Bros. which is still the best selling home console game ever in Japan after more than 30 years or how Dragon Quest III was the best selling in the franchise for a long time (12 years!).
What I'm saying is to judge a big franchise's health more than considering the decline compared to its peak it is more telling to watch how sales stabilized (roughly) through time.
No one should expect every mainline MH games to sell 4M+ in Japan when only 3 third-party games has ever done it in 30+ years.


nbmjn6Q.jpg


* In reality it was already clear with MHF and MHF2 that the series was going to sky rocket.

We're going to go from ~3 to 3.5mil annual to maybe 1mil on a since-2013 project. Random YouTube videos about being "stoked" has little to do with the reality of the market.
 
Onimusha needs a reboot, and I think that's what is scaring Capcom. They can't use Samanosuke cuz his likeness is tied to an actor and they know fans don't want to play as a new character. I don't think Soki is popular enough to lead the franchise. If they made a whole new Samanosuke that looks nothing like the original will fans accept it? Will the game have to be different enough so it can stand on its own without being compared to RE and DMC?
 

Fiendcode

Member
Yea, and thankfully the game not being on handheld will mean it'll actually catch on outside of Japan. I don't know why it took Capcom this long to realize you can't sell action games in the west on a fucking 2 inch screen with garbage controls.
MH4U did 1.5m outside Japan. That's more than most of their home console action games do globally now.
 

kc44135

Member
I think it might be a great idea for Capcom to try their hand at budget "AA" releases, sort of like Hellblade, or Uncharted : Lost Legacy. There are two things that Capcom is indisputably really good at; great gameplay mechanics, and incredible replayability. Imagine if they just released something focused on these merits alone. Say, a standalone RE: Mercenaries game with RE6 mechanics (or maybe even combine that with Raid Mode from the Revelations series). Release that with a bunch of characters/maps/modes fore $30 or $40, and I think you'd have a hit.

I wouldn't even be surprised if we saw some shit like

"Okami 2" developed by Platinum and difectes by Kamiya.

Capcom might've jumped off using third party western devs. But I could see them starting to use either higher quality studios rather than the lowest bidder and those in Japan. Hell like all of the big Japanese studios are doing that and we even had that recent deal with Namco and Capcom for online code or whatever that was. Which is a start in general.

Edit: I dunno why I mix up Kamiya and Mikami lol

I'd love to see an RE6 successor developed by Platinum and directed by Kamiya. That would probably be crazy, lol
 

hughesta

Banned
focus on core experiences that are tight and fun but not necessarily spectacles. RE7 was a great step in the right direction. Take the franchises that are doing poorly back to what made them successful on the first place - get a good character action DMC, make a 2D action Mega Man with a great art style, launch some interesting new franchises that expand in scope as they get sequels.
 
Maybe appropriate some western licenses like EA does. Capcom has the action-adventure pedigree but they need to marry it with interesting characters and stories. Perhaps an adventure-rpg game based on the Hound (from GoT)?
 
I think both Deep Down and Panta Rhei engine are dead, I remember seeing the demo for Deep Down and it was nothing like these gifs or what was shown when announced, the moment I saw actual gameplay demo the whole thing fell flat and I lost all interest.

IIRC Capcom said they wanted Panta Rhei engine to be their unified engine, yet now we see them doing the RE engine for Resident Evil 7, and I believe they will use it for future enteries as well. Marvel vs Capcom and Monster Hunter also uses different engines, so Panta Rhei is pretty much dead I'd say.

I always loved Capcom, and they had great titles all the time, but now not so much. The market is devoid of many kinda of games, like Dinosaurs, there is no high quality game covering dinosaurs and Capcom is leaving Dino Crisis dead, I wouldn't mind if they brought it back as a survival horror title like the first one, or as an action title like the 2nd one, but they need to make a strong come back.

We also got Onimusha, which Capcom is not paying any attention, having a samurai centered game would be quite something, it worked to a degree with Ni Oh. Lost Planet as a Co-Op experience could prove really successful in todays market, the MP is on the rise, if done right it could work.

Capcom quality in general is declining, I look at Dead Rising, Marvel vs Capcom and I am not excited, Monster Hunter is not a game for me, yet I checked it out and I was not moved, only Resident Evil 7 was the best thing Capcom did in recent years, Revelations 2 was not a top quality game sadly easier.

Capcom needs to get their shit right, they are doubling down on remasters all around the Resident Evil franchise which is literally a cash cow right now, but they need to invest into more remake and new titles.
 

Neoxon

Junior Member
Maybe appropriate some western licenses like EA does. Capcom has the action-adventure pedigree but they need to marry it with interesting characters and stories. Perhaps an adventure-rpg game based on the Hound (from GoT)?
They already have Marvel, so getting other western IPs wouldn't be that far-fetched.
 

Sesha

Member
Working with Platinum and reviving stuff like Okami makes for nice PR but won't help their bottom line. They're already reviving MvC and remaking RE2, neither of which have helped to boost their image much. For all we know more revivals could turn out like MvC.

Capcom's number one challenge is mobile. They need successes badly, otherwise they're doomed to trail behind their competition.

Other than they, like has been mentioned, they need to treat their AAA titles like AAA, and stick with the core of each game. Games like SFV, MvC: I, DR4 are unacceptable, especially when you look at the competition. Coming up, they need to nail RE2 Remake and DMC5. If those look cheap or pull a DR4 then their reputation will only get worse.

No, it's only been one year without a release for DR in nearly a decade. Not comparable to DMC in the least.

There were two years between DR3 and DR4, and it's been two years between DMC4SE and now. That was always what I was talking about.

Monster Hunter has a huge console game announced and has had continued releases every year? What?

And SB had a release just last year, which was the third release in three years.

They should look at how Bamco is doing things. Have a few AAA big budget title release along with some lower budget titles. They have the IP's to do it but aren't capitalizing on it. DMC5 doesn't need a massive budget. They should also do more downloadable only games with some series like Strider.

Here is how I would structure released if I were in charge.

Big Budget Series
Resident Evil Mainline Series
Dragons Dogma
Onimusha
Dino Crisis
Okami
Monster Hunter

Mid Budget Series
Street Fighter
Darkstalkers
Dead Rising
Devil May Cry
Lost Planet
Resident Evil Rev Series
Breath of Fire
Mega Man Legends
Ashuras Wrath


Low Budget Digital Only
Final Fight - Use CPS3
Viewtiful Joe
God Hand
Killer 7
Strider
Captain Commando
Forgotten Worlds
Mega Man/X Mainline Series 8/16 bit games
Ace Attorney

Sprinkle some new IP's in there.

I dont even think REmake 2 needs a big budget. I'd be more than happy if it used the same tech as REmake/0 Remaster. Just add some new enemies, bosses and locations and Im good to go. They should also give up on these garbage Resident Evil spinoff games like Umbrella Corps and use that budget for a new IP or a Clock Tower/Haunting Ground game in VR or something.

Thank Tsujimoto you're not in charge. Also Okami as a big budget game?
 

Crossing Eden

Hello, my name is Yves Guillemot, Vivendi S.A.'s Employee of the Month!

duckroll

Member
The wind simulation is really good but the overall scene really isn't impressive. When you consider how barebones everything looks does it really matter? The game looked pretty awful tbh.
 
So has anyone bothered really bothered researching the arc of Capcom circa-2006 to earlier this year.

Cuz it seems interesting purely from the financials.
 

Mediking

Member
Do more team ups with other talented developers can help. Call up Nintendo and Sony and Sega and Atlus, Capcon.
 

jengo

Member
Capcom Online Games (COG) has no track record in this kind of project, as far as I know. MH Frontier and DDO are using previous games' engines, and have subscription models for fucks sake. None of COG's previous games had the global exposure of Deep Down (despite Capcom being very clear in saying Deep Down was Japan only).

Seeing Makoto Maeda's Facebook post made it clear to me that any semblance of the hype I had for Deep Down would never be realized once it was known to be under development at COG as games as a service. He gave it more of a "COG gave it their kiss of death, eff them" vibe, but that's office politics I know nothing of. I'm just going off of released title track record.

That said, I'd love to be proven wrong.
 

120v

Member
i think Deep Down still exists. it's just ... something else, at this point

we never really had an awful lot to go on from the beginning. so it could be anything
 

shingi70

Banned
What happened to Mega Man. Seems like a new 2Dgame for portable and digital platform would be a no brained and they have so many flavors of mega man to play with.

Was a 3D Mega man game ever attempted?
 
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