Although Capcom has the sales performance as one of the key factors in a game’s success or failure, there’s another factor for them.
Stuart Turner, Capcom Europe’s COO, was interviewed by GamesIndustry, where he said the following: „While we have shareholders to appease, it’s not just about commercial performance. There is an artistic element that always comes in where we know this is the right way. And while if we compare RE7 to RE6 the absolute numbers are not the same, regarding the profitability… it’s completely fine. It ticked all of our boxes internally. It was well received, and in some respects, getting some very good review scores counts as much for Capcom as a game that sells millions and millions and millions. We’d prefer a game that got a 9 and sold less, than got a 6 but sold more.”
Regarding Resident Evil 7, Antoine Molant, the EMEA marketing director, added: „We are less focused on Day One sales these days, too. We are looking much more at the long-term. And in that case, RE7 is performing amazingly. Even now, after almost two years, it’s still the VR flagship title. That helps keep the game selling well.”
What about new IPs? Molant says: „We are looking into the explosion in affordable digital-only titles. That is how we potentially see new IP being born, by testing the water with smaller titles that are less risky to develop. Maybe we could release a few of these and see if one takes off, and then you can take it further step-by-step, as opposed to doing an AAA with a £10 million marketing budget. That’s never going to happen.”
Turner, however, does not rule the new IPs out: „But it’s not off the plans to do some new IP. We have titles lined-up. The development team doesn’t want to keep working on the same thing over and over. They want to explore other areas. There is also a lot of scope in some of our universes where we can go and do something new, without having to leap into new territory, but new IP is certainly still on the radar and discussed within the development offices at Osaka and Vancouver. It’s just difficult to launch successfully in a global market.”
Capcom doesn’t want to take risks and would appreciate good review scores, too. Perhaps they can get them with Resident Evil 2 Remake, out in January.
Source: PCGamer, DualShockers
