Jul 27, 2010
Nikkei (A Japanese media corperation) have released a report which states Capcom is planning to increase the output of new entries for their most popular franchises to three or four games a year, while they currently only release two. What this means is while at the moment we may only see a new Resident Evil and a Megaman game released in a year alongside less successful IPs, Capcom would want to do a Resident Evil, a Megaman and a new Ace Attorney, possibly a vs Capcom as well, alongside the other IPS being released by them.
Capcom plan to increase the output rate by outsourcing more titles to Europe and the US, and hope this will cut production times from four years to two or three instead.
While I can see that Capcom want to make more money from its more popular franchises, which is fair enough given the current climate, but I would worry that there will be a larger time pressure on the development teams which will lead rushed and lower quality products. I would also worry that if more titles where being pushed for a faster release, the longetivity of franchises would be reduced as the ideas for the games would get more stale and there would be less anticipation for titles. Also, if more titles were being released, Capcom may not see a large increase in sales because gamers may not be able to afford these new titles as well as others in a higly competative market place. Maybe Capcom should be focusing more on exciting, well executed IP’s while maintaining their current structure.
Source: Andriasang via Destructoid
The good news from this is that we may have Resident Evil 6 sooner than we thought, but I can see the negative side. If we start getting more titles more frequently, you do run the risk of sacrificing quality, such as when Eidos started churning out a Tomb Raider title every year. The series ran out of steam very quickly.
The affordability is another big issue, if titles are coming out faster and closer together they will run into this problem. There are plenty of people who budget for only a few big titles a year, so if their games are not treated as the occassional ‘big release’ they could be overlooked altogether. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.
Yeah, I have similar concerns. I could see Resident Evil in particular getting stale unless they made some radical changes to the series. I could also see some problems if they started to outsource series titles as it would mean involving teams who havn’t worked with a series before.
Unless Capcom are releasing very high quality products I can also see people prioritising other titles, even though it wouldn’t make as much of a difference for me as I rarely buy games on release. However, I would be all for more Ace Attourney titles!
It’s hard to think where Resident Evil can really go from here. They already did the huge revamp for Resi 4-5, and took the series gameplay wise in a whole new direction. I personally would like to see it go back to it’s Survival Horror roots, but again you run the risk of it being stale.
The outsourcing thing is also another concern, as it then potentially could end up like the Silent Hill series did for a while there, with Origins and Homecoming. It’s shakey ground, however you look at it. The new Resident Evil on the 3DS looks initially very promising (looking at the trailer), but I just think it’s a bizarre choice of format.
I personally already find it hard to imagine where they are going to take the game in Resi 6, let alone anything after that. I think another problem of the series returning to its roots would be that I don’t know if it would appeal to the fanbase its gained as a shooting game.
That being said, I wouldn’t mind it returning to a traditional format even though I havn’t played a Resident Evil game before since Outbreak.
I was thinking a similar thing regarding Silent Hill’s outsourcing. I was also thinking about Dark Void which was outsourced by Capcom and was poorly recieved. I hope the Resident Evil on 3DS isn’t just a gimmicky game trying to use 3d in anyway possible. I would be happier if it also came out on PSP as well or something.
As a Resi veteran I should be very pleased but I have the same reservations as the rest of you. I remember Christmas being a magical time as a young teenager, looking forward to the annual installment of Tomb Raider. Looking back, if there had been one every two, maybe even three years, Tomb Raiders 3, 4 and 5 might have been, at the very least, half-decent games.
You only have to look at the backlash Resi 3 caused, coming out so soon after the second game and being little more than a retread in a boob tube. It was a good game but revisiting Raccoon City during the outbreak so soon was a huge mistake.
As my wise and learned friend Jen has already said, the prospect of seeing Resi 6 sooner rather than later is great news. I just pray Capcom can keep a grip of the survival horror genius they’re famous for.