While most of the industry’s big and storied publishers are struggling to really capitalize on their biggest IP’s and franchises, Capcom continues to show everyone how its done.
The company has reported record profits for the seventh year in a row, as it continues to deliver solid entries in big franchises like Resident Evil, Street Fighter, and Monster Hunter. Now that Dragon’s Dogma is back in the mix as well, it could soon be a key part of that driving force.
In Capcom’s latest financial reports via VGC, the publisher’s net sales amounted to 152,410 million yen ($977 million) which is a 21% increase year-over-year. It also hit double-digit increases for operating and ordinary income.
Resident Evil 4 and Street Fighter 6 were two big earners for Capcom last year, with the former being the biggest sales driver. Dragon’s Dogma 2 is likely to be a good sales driver for this year, but all eyes are on a different Capcom franchise as to what will really bring in the profits.
That’s Monster Hunter of course, which is expected to have another major release in Monster Hunter Wilds sometime before the end of this new fiscal year.
And by the point Wilds comes out, it’s likely that the next Resident Evil game will be teed up and ready, at the rate Capcom is currently getting these games out.
Looking at Capcom’s seven-years straight of success, it’s easy to say that Capcom stands as an example that sequels, remakes, and re-investment into established IP and franchises is the way to go, but that’s only a surface-level look at why Capcom is doing well.
Firstly, not everyone has franchies under their belt like Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Monster Hunter, or even Dragon’s Dogma, which despite the sequel’s success is easily the most niche of that bunch in terms of sales power.
You don’t get giant, storied franchises overnight. Capcom saw the opportunity it had years ago to take advantage of the IP it already owns, and breathe life into these franchises in ways that caught up with the rest of the industry, and in that endeavor also ended up innovating.
The remake for Resident Evil 2 became a quality standard not just for Capcom, but for the industry as to what a ‘good remake’ looks like, and helped define what we know a remake to be in today’s industry.
Street Fighter 6 is agreed to be a huge leap forward for fighting games, across the FGC and the general populous of gamers.
It’s also imperative to remember that Capcom’s own proprietary RE Engine has proven to be incredibly flexible in doing whatever Capcom needs it to do.
That combined investment in franchises it already owns, and technology it can build to be leveraged however it may need to be, are key factors to the company’s success.
Of course the chip in the armour of everything Capcom is doing is the fact that were it to have a string of games that did not meet the quality bar it set for itself, interest in these established franchises could wane quickly.
There’s also a question of how the Resident Evil remakes are going to continue, if they will indeed go on to do 5 and 6, or if Capcom will go back to spin-offs like Code Veronica and others first.
Capcom is also considering which of its older IP it could revitalize next, and there’s no guarantee those attempts will go as well as they did with Resident Evil.
Then, when Capcom can’t guarantee it’ll print money with a new Resident Evil or Monster Hunter game, it’ll have to enter the minefield of creating new IP, which raises the stakes and the challenge for success considerably. If that happens, it’s doubtful Capcom will still be reporting record profits.
That’s not to say Capcom isn’t trying to build new IP – Exoprimal is a direct example that it is trying new things, but it wasn’t the game that brought in the big bucks.
But for now, it really must be pointed out that despite the rest of the industry seeming like it’s in shambles, Capcom is raising salaries for employees, brought storied franchises back from the dead, and continues to show-up the rest of the industries biggest players as to what a well-managed company looks like.
Here’s hoping they keep the lessons from these past seven years and move them forward, and don’t muck things up.
Source – [VGC]