Street Fighter house sees massive quarterly profit drop alongside small sales decline; poor Lost Planet 2 sales, strong yen, and weak global economies blamed.
Capcom today announced its net income for the first quarter of this year was ¥216 million ($2.4 million), 90 percent lower than the same period in 2009. This poor performance was due to the poor sales performance of Lost Planet 2 and the lack of headline releases during the quarter compared to the same period last year.
The Japanese development house branded the results for the quarter ending June 30, 2010, as "sluggish." It specifically called out Lost Planet 2 as the reason the profits in its games division had fallen, saying it "underperformed its projection substantially." Overall sales "remained stagnant" thanks to lower-than-expected growth for Monster Hunter Tri on the Wii and the fact that Ghost Trick on the DS "struggled." This was moderated by continued "steady growth" for both Super Street Fighter IV and Monster Hunter Online. Compounding sales-related problems were the "stagnating economy" in Europe and the US and a significant exchange loss, thanks to the strong Japanese yen, the firm said.
The Mobile Devices division was a bright spot for Capcom, however, with the newly formed division reporting ¥680 million ($7.8 million) in sales and ¥97 million ($1.1 million) net income. Net sales in Capcom's Arcade Operations division fell 10 percent to ¥2.6 billion ($30 million), but operating income for the division was up 56 percent to ¥178 million ($2 million), thanks to the success of the firm's "profitability improvement strategy."
This drop in profits was foreshadowed by reports earlier this week that the company was planning to cut development time for its flagship titles in an effort to stabilise its earnings. Capcom has reiterated its forecasts for the rest of this fiscal year, where it expects net income of ¥8 billion ($91 million) with ¥2.9 billion($33 million) coming in the first half of the year.
Alex Sassoon Coby has been involved in tech and video games journalism for the better part of a decade. He likes his games hard, his meat raw, and his women on wheels.
Maybe they need to start converting more titles to PC... That would at least create some profit increase at little cost. @chaoscontrol: And they can throw in some modding tools. Should allow some nice customization options for them to add to DLC. It would create some nice community inspiration for future titles and sequels.
Heres an idea, stop releasing a game in 1 place than wait 6 months to release it again in another. They have no profits because they insist on giving people time to make translation patches so people just pirate the game. *coughMonsterHuntercough* Not to mention they feel the need to make a bunch of bad sonic games ever year. Then theres also the fact that they insist on screwing over loyal fans by dumping everything a game was and marketing there once hardcore game to the general audience.
I have three words for Capcom - Breath of Fire 6 - well actually that's three words and a number, but you get the drift. lost Planet 2 could have made them a great profit - if they would have done it right, oh well, that's the breaks. BUT - Breath of Fire 6, the Breath of Fire series, if they would have kept on making them could have been their bread and butter - like the DS is to Nintendo. They have been making all these other hit and miss games, some great, some not, and have abandoned a series that could have given them a solid profit no matter what (as long as they didn't make it like BoF V). I just don't know what they are thinking over there.
I have an idea for a video game. Players take control of Seth, the main antagonist of Super Street Fighter IV and have him participate in Street Fighter tournaments. Only there's a twist. Every time Seth defeats someome, he learns one of his opponent's moves. Using these moves, he tries to usurp M.Bision and rule the world.
They shouldn't be expecting much from a game that got the kind of reviews LP2 did. Dunno what Capcom is thinking.
Before Capcom closes down, can you guys make a marvel capcom type game where it is played in a city like GTA with a lock on button. multiplayer on-line with dedicated servers. So that we control one character but we can have like 5 on 5 battles at least.. It seems that multiplayer on-line is the way to go. Then you could add expansion packs and add more characters, moves, more life to the fighting areas. Please keep the 6 button fighting style from the original street fighter though none of the 4 button crap. Seriously though how hard can it be you already have all the 3d models? I Think it would be awesome to have full mobility in different cities, combo in different angles through walls and stuff, sewers etc. Like in the comics, with good kung fu like in the games. Ladder matches but a free mode also. For casual gaming. One on One tournaments with point gambling and gifting for unlockables.
well of course sales droped i mean las year they sold us street fighter an re5 and this year they tried to sell them again.
@nutcrackr a mistake that alot of video game companies have made, for instance daikatana I am a huge fan of John Romero and his works but when I played this.....I honestly have to say I thought he was done for after I played that piece of crap. What Capcom needs to do is (and i know its going out sound a bit out there) push back the release dates for a few games, and really focus on games that have a trusted name, people have heard of, and is really successful such as megaman, or dead rising, and this is really where the case of "you've got to spend money to make money" really comes in at, its a risk, but if it works, you can profit off of it big time, I just hope that we don't live through 1983 again.
Stop ripping ppl off for a start ..pointless dlc which you have to pay that should hav been included in the game for starters. Stop making the re-releasing the same game with added bits but selling it as new game at full price.
Cutting development time is not the solution to this problem. If anything it will make the situation worse for Capcom. Capcom need to spend more time on games so they become quality titles that people buy not because they belong to a franchise but because they are genuinely amazing games.
Hmmm games like okami, ico, zone of the enders, rez, etc on the ps2 were some of my favourite games and yet they didnt sell a fraction of what any of them deserved. Look forward a few years and games like mw2 make millions on debut without any trouble because of a population of sheeple. The games market is in a horrible situation where unless you advertise the **** out of a game you have to rely on reputation and so original games often go overlooked whereas sequels such as mw2 or halo will sell billions despite the utter lack of anything new.
@Taylor9142 I agree 100%. Let's hope this serves as a warning to other companies who might dare to continue to milk us of our precious money on mediocre games!
Maybe game developers are finally realizing that milking games aren't profit anymore. Ever since these companies got greedy, profits decreased and the quality of the game plummeted. There is still a few dedicated companies out there, namely Blizzard(not the Activision part)Bethesda/Obsidian, Rockstar, and Bungie are a few that come to my mind. I can only hope Dead Rising 2 will be great fun like the first.
If Dead Rising 2 is as awesome as the first then maybe Capcom will see a turn-around. I'd say that game is make or break for them. Is the Yen usually that inflated?
wow, Gamespot news comment zone.... the world's largest congregation of try-hard economists. seriously folks... relax, enjoy your games, and leave the real deal to experts who at least know Japan not from anime and video games.
"the company was planning to cut development time for its flagship titles in an effort to stabilise its earnings." Yes because putting less effort and developement into the games your trying to sell...is going to INCREASE sales??? riiiggght....
@blackace Thanks for the advice But here some for u if you want to play a good game play something not made by Crapcom
I had a dream last night, it involved Capcom declining 10% more than 90% and having the same problem as Midway did... My dream involved Capcom finding the only company to have the same history as Capcom and them joining forces... They then called themselves Capnami and decided to jump Hideo Kojima on board to make a brand new Mega Man game using Metal Gear Rising's graphics engine... That's the most epic dream I've had in a while...
I can't believe they even made a sequel to Lost Planet. What a terrible game. I don't think sluggish, slow-paced, boring, and bland begin to describe it.
make more than one game a year and your sales will go up. Make more than on game that is amazing and your sales will go through the roof. See Rock Start: Red Dead Redemption for tips!
I cant help but notice that everyone says the lack of originality is hurting them.....but they should remake this and that and do a sequel to this but make it like the first one! Seriously guys? Does anyone not seem to understand that they did do something original a couple times and it flopped horribly? Its because nobody on a large scale wants "different", they want to "shoot stuff". Wether it be dinosaurs, zombies, people, or aliens. But then, when they get it, its "the same old thing". Its not Capcoms fault, nor is it any other game companies fault. Its our fault. As a whole. Their place in this world is to make games to sell. Doesn't anyone else also get that making a great original game these days isn't nearly as easy as it used to be? Every awesome concept I can think of has been done to death and everything new is going to be compared to something else and it will never be good enough. What you play is going to be determined by the masses. That is why you will keep seeing Halo, Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, and lackluster Wii games. Hardcore gamers that see this as an art and something more than just a "game" are not enough in numbers to dictate what is profitable. All any of us can do is just play what we know we are going to enjoy because that is the reality of the industry.
My only gripe about Capcom is they messed up by not updating the RE controls to something more like other third-person shooters (I want to move and shoot!). I'm stoked for Dead Rising 2 though.
I don't know about everybody else but i want more mega man and DMC 5 and instead of making street fighter make a new fighting franchise that has never been done but im not mad with MvC 3 or Street Fighter X Tekken for now at least
Capcom needs some new blood, and some new ideas. I honestly can't remember the last time since Street Fighter 3 3rd strike on the dreamcast that I wanted to buy a capcom game (outside of Resident evil titles).
All they need to do is make something different than what they have, make it reasonably priced and they will get profit. None of this bullcrap they did with Lost Planet 2 is going to get them anywhere. There are obvious things that people actually want like Monster Hunter Tri on PS3 and 360, Devil May Cry 5, and Hi-Def Resident Evil remakes that would really help them if they made. We know they have the capability of doing it, they just keep milking the hell out of the stuff they have and thats whats killing them.
Stop using bad piracy countermeasures like you did with Street Fighter 4 and Resident Evil 5, and PLEASE DON'T USE THE SAME ANTI-PIRACY MODEL ON DEAD RISING 2! Oh, and i agree with Spexter about a DMC5 PC. I respect Capcom in that they are bringing their some of their franchises onto the PC, but what i disagree with is how they deal with the piracy. It's like calling every PC gamer a pirate. Plus, it wouldn't hurt to see a Megaman game running on MT Framework.
give resident evil 2 a HD makeover with some nice new textures for xbla/psn and youll see some nice profits
@King_Gamer19 It's SF IV (4), not SFVI (6). I thought Super Street Fighter IV was very good. They should have just released this game instead of SF IV, but I'm glad they released it at a lower price. LP1 was ok, but not great. LP 2 was terrible. Dead Rising was very good as well. It wasn't overrated when it was released. RE3 & RE5 were both great games, even though the controls could still be better. If you don't like Capcom games, just don't play them.
Give us a New Dino Crisis. But don't use the RE formula. Reset the series with a new engine.. think BIG! not just slinging out more rushed crap. Oh wait...
Because Capcom sucks SF VI sucked Lost Planted 1 & 2 sucked & Dead Rising is one of the most overrated games ever & Dead Rising 2 is going to such just as bad if not worst RE 5 was no different from RE 4 because Capcom can't come up with new ideals ever
Give the street fighter franchise a rest...you can't profit of a single franchise,especially if it's a fighting game...experiment,come up with new ideas and/or give us DMC5...
yes in streat fighters you kick punch nothing is changed but the place and the outfit like foot ball games all over again from 1999 till now and for ever they just enhance the texture if they are realy doing it and put some usles things to fill the box and post 60 buck onit as a price i rather buy 2 used games wich are 100 times more fun thats dont mean thats i buy games used but in the case of this things capcom call games i will and thers no shame in buying the game used if you cant when its new
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