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Japanese publisher Capcom believes that future growth in the current generation of consoles will be focused on the Xbox 360 and PS3, stating that it intends to pump fewer resources into development of Wii titles.
The decision follows poor sales of Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles on Nintendo’s console. The Wii-only instalment in the popular series sold just 16,000 units in its first three weeks on sale in France. By comparison, RE5 sold 140,000 units across Xbox 360 and PS3 in the same timeframe.
The sentiment echoes similar concerns expressed by Sega earlier this week.
The Wii is very difficult, with an oversupply of games and a gamer market that has radically changed,” Capcom France’s director general Antoine Seux told Gamekult, as translated by Spong.
So-called ‘gamer’s games’ are selling less and less on the console, be it MadWorld or Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop or House of the Dead: Overkill.”
One feels that there is a problem very clear on this style of game on the Wii, where gamers have obviously moved on. The Wii customer has turned into a much broader audience. It is a disappointment.”
The news comes despite a bumper Christmas for Wii in all major territories.
As a result, Capcom now intends to focus more of its efforts on both Microsoft’s and Sony’s machines going forwards.
This is the year of the emergence of so-called ‘new console generation’,” Seux added.
The Wii is still an important part of sales, but growth is on both Sony and Microsoft’s platforms. The Wii console is very much a family commitment. For us, Capcom, the future is the PS3 and the Xbox 360.”
