Capcom halves profit forecasts as development moves in-house

Capcom has cancelled a number of in-development titles as it reveals it has halved the profit forecasts for the year.

The publisher has announced that, due to “sudden and significant changes in the operating environment of the Digital contents business”, it had suffered a special loss of £48 million as it looks to restructure its business.

The losses specifically related to the cancellation of in-development games that had been outsourced overseas but were “no more compatible with the current business strategy”.

Net income forecasts were revised from £43 million to £19 million, half of what was initially expected.

Capcom blamed “excessive” outsourcing for a decline in quality in some of its releases, and as a result will be moving much of its development in-house.

This is despite what it called “robust sales” of its flagship title Resident Evil 6.

The firm also highlighted a delayed response to the expanding digital contents market and insufficient coordination between the marketing and game development divisions in overseas markets as reasons for missing its financial targets.

Despite lowering profit forecasts for 2013, Capcom said it anticipate £45 million in net income during the fiscal year ending March 31st 2014, higher than the originally forecast profits for this year.

The current planned line-up for the year include titles such as Monster Hunter 4, Lost Planet 3, Resident Evil Revelations: Unveiled Edition and “other major titles”.