Capcom reported that their net income for their first fiscal quarter, the April – June period, dropped by 90.4% compared to the same period in 2009. What’s to blame?
Capcom explains that sales of Lost Planet 2, which Capcom says underperformed substantially, as well as the sluggish growth for Monster Hunter-Tri overseas. In addition, their new IP, “Ghost Trick”, seems to be struggling in Japan. The lackluster sales of LP2 did nothing but harm their fiscal quarter. The game just didn’t take off as hoped. And for Monster Hunter Tri, seems the target audience was not the right audience this time around. Focusing the game on the Wii was pretty unexpected as the fan base seems to be mostly on Sony’s systems. In other words, batter up, three strikes and you’re out. Which is too bad, I had some really high hopes for Lost Planet 2, and it ended up just falling short of being fun, due to some control issues and lackluster gameplay elements. I hope they don’t give up on the series and still make Lost Planet 3. This series has potential.
Every company has ups and downs, but this news is a bit more shocking because Capcom was on a roll for many years. The reality is, development costs for new flagship titles increased, compared to last year’s Resident Evil 5 and Monster Hunter Unite, and fans didn’t seem to take to their new stuff. Not to mention currency exchange rates putting on even more hurt as well, which seems to be a more common excuse we hear about these days. Nintendo just released their earnings report as well, and also cited currency exchange rates.
While Capcom believes that the American and European markets are shrinking in the face of a “stagnating economy”, they aren’t changing their forecast for the remainder of the fiscal year, which ends in March 2011. They believe they will have an upward trend in the second half with their major releases such as Dead Rising 2, Monster Hunter Portable 3(hitting Japan late 2010).
Common Capcom, you can do it!
Dead Rising 2 will definitely increase profits.
I’m sad to hear this. I mean, as pissed off as I am over the direction they took the Resident Evil series, Capcom is still one of my favorite gaming companies. Monster Hunter Tri was a great game, and I’ll definitely be buying Dead Rising 2 to support them.
I gave up on Lost Planet 2 after playing the multiplayer. Just wasn’t fun at all and I’m not buying a game just to play the co-op campaign or whatever the first demo was.
I guess it’s just been a slow year? And yeah, maybe they were banking on Lost Planet 2 too much. Well, the MvC next would makes things better no doubt. And if that MegaMan Legends 3 rumor holds true, they will see some cash going their way
I was actually excited for LP2 but ended up not buying it because of bad reviews.
I hope RD2 does sell well for them…”Good Luck Capcom!”
Yea, it was definitely a slow couple of months for Capcom. Lost Planet 2 failed miserably, and Monster Hunter Tri didn’t sell as much as they hoped for. Hopefully next year would be a different story..
Just hang in there until Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 guys..
Sad =(.
Lost Planet series just doesn’t interest me though. It’s weird. One of the only events I didn’t even bother to go to in LA.
i dont think Capcom has anything to worry about. theyve got dead rising 2, and marvel vs capcom 3 on the way!!
Didn’t even think Capcom was having it rough, they have so many good games. It’s definitely a death trap to release a game solely for Wii though.
Meh, they’ll be fine with the menagerie of fighters coming out.
They also might want to do something about all those Monster Hunter clones…
Lost Planet 2 would have been a better game without MP and added focus on single player and co-op. That was one flop though they still have plenty of big titles to make this gen. Like were is Onimusha 5?
Hopefully this means they’ll put some more polish on dead rising 2 to make sure it sells.