Capcom today released their Integrated Report for 2018. Most of it is business talk and contains nothing of value to us as consumers. However, two interesting nuggets of information have come out of it so far. Capcom franchises will become live services and the company will release three major titles each year.
Firstly, Capcom states that they will be “transforming the foundation of our Consumer business model from a traditional one-time sale “transactional model” to a continuous “recurring revenue model.” This is not surprising given the fact that live service games that have a recurring revenue model are more profitable than traditional experiences.
Nevertheless, it is still slightly disheartening that Capcom would take this route as they were one of the last Triple-A publishers to not fully endorse the live-service model through their games, with only the Monster Hunter and Street Fighter series having live service games.
Secondly, Capcom will be aiming to “release approximately three major titles each year.” This seems to suggest that Capcom will be producing more games, more frequently. If we look at the 2018-19 fiscal year, we can see that the three major titles would be Mega Man 11, Resident Evil 2, and Devil May Cry 5.
Mega Man 11 released last week and we enjoyed it, calling it “another great addition to the franchise” in our review. Resident Evil 2 is on the horizon. The game’s deluxe edition content has just been revealed. Devil May Cry 5 is also releasing in a few months and it was just revealed that players can purchase upgrades for the protagonists with real-world money.
What do you think about Capcom creating more live services?