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Capcom says it is now in a ‘better place’ as it prepares for its 2015 comeback.
The firm underwent a major restructure in 2013 after lower than expected sales of DMC: Devil May Cry and Resident Evil 6. As a result the firm has published very few games in the last 18 month.
But that all changes this year, with multiple new Resident Evil games, a PS4 and Xbox One version of DMC: Devil May Cry plus more news on the anticipated arrival of Street Fighter V.
The chairman of our company realised that we weren’t trading on the seal of quality we used to, so we decided to rejig development but do it at a time when the new formats were coming through and install bases are low,” explains Capcom’s commercial director Andy Davis.
"Well, that was the theory, no-one saw those consoles coming out of the gates like they did.”
Head of marketing Antoine Molant added: We had a more rigid structure back in the day, harder to adapt and less flexible.
"Today we are leaner, and that means the same team that deals with the development in Japan also directly deals with the market, and they have an understanding of all aspects of marketing, sales, development etcetera. And that makes us stronger.”
The firm says it’s now focused on releasing fewer but high quality products and not wasting time on ‘me-too’ titles. And the result is a motivated team, relieved to come out from a year of challenges, said Davis.
A lot of the people who are here now were here before the restructure happened, so just getting through that process motivates everyone now that we have product coming through,” he added.
But it’s also knowing that the product is well designed – we are only trying to bring decent product to market.
"We have a solid mid-term strategy with the physical market, the digital stuff and everything else in between, and everything has been streamlined in the business – it is all re-focused and it is a much better place.”
