Capcom: “All Games Will Be Social”
- Categories: Games, News
- Date: Jan 13, 2014 21:31 JST
- Tags: Capcom, DLC, Internet, Interviews, Marketing, Social Games
Capcom has boldly proclaimed “all games will be basically social in future,” doubtless hoping to emulate the resounding success of Square Enix, Gree and DeNA in delivering high quality social gaming to the masses – whether they like it or not.
Capcom has published a suitably worshipful interview with their very own Kazunori Sugiura, “General Manager of Division 2, Consumer Games Development” and generalissimo of the company’s social gaming efforts:
First of all, could you explain an overview of the current social game market?
I have to say that nobody knows what the domestic social game market will be like three months later, as it is changing very rapidly.
Previously, the market was led by card battle games that are easy to monetize.
But now, games of other genres or titles focusing on game elements have become hits. I think successful games have one thing in common: They are “easy to play, but have more to play than they look”.
So there is no shift away from social games, right?
No. The definition of social games is different from person to person.
One may think that gacha (the mechanism of selling random in-game items) is synonymous with social games, and another may think that social games are card battles.
At Capcom, we define social games as means for facilitating communication among users and something in which game elements and monetization are involved.
From this standpoint, we think that all games will be basically social in future.
Although it is not surprising to see the manager of Capcom’s social gaming division insisting social gaming is the future (despite collapsing profits and mass lay-offs at a number of industry leaders), amongst actual gamers there is much scepticism – and fears that Capcom may end up the next Square Enix…
Fortunately, Capcom plans many exciting card battle games based on its flagship franchises to make sure this is not the case:
What are your popular social game titles right now?
We have operated a game under the title of “Resident Evil: Outbreak Survive” for more than two years. It has more than two million members and has maintained high popularity. The success comes from the advantage as a pioneer, active in-game event hosting, and timely operation.
What kind of game content have you released recently?
Our latest releases are “Monster Hunter Hunting Quest” and “Street Fighter X All Capcom”. Both are easy-to-play card battles.
They are based on action or fighting games and have simplified manipulation for smartphones, but share the same world view, staging, and community development as the console versions.
“Monster Hunter Hunting Quest” exceeded 500,000 downloads about one month after the service started and has been high in the sales ranking. This is a card battle based on an action game, and it wins support from a large number of original game fans. I think this is a factor in its success.
What kind of content are you planning to release in the future?
We are planning to release a smartphone app, “Monhan Itsudemo Airou Life”, and a web-based, full-scale card battle game, “Monster Hunter Roar of Cards”.
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Game over capcom
Oh just go fuck yourself, Sugiura.
The 'market' can only take so much bullshit before we have enough and develop allergy to your games. We've proven you wrong about DLCs with sales for Street Fighter X Tekken. We've proven you wrong about people wanting more action in their horror with sales of Resident Evil 6. We've proven you wrong about wanting a more Western, edgy Dante with sales of DmC.
You don't even give your own developers enough room to even breathe. You doublecrossed Shinji Mikami. You forced Keiji Inafune to leave and step on the Megaman franchise for kicks. You're not even giving enough break for Yoshinori Ono after all he did to resurrect Street Fighter with IV.
Fucking suits lying through your teeth. That's what you people are.
You talk bullshit to please the boardroom and aim only for obvious short term profits to rile in the investors who only read charts and statistic that don't mean jackshit for the industry in the long run. You HAVE TO KNOW THAT IT IS ALL YOUR OWN UNDOING after seeing only around 150m in your account to cover your operating expenses, but I guess it is easier to blame us so you can keep your job even though you suck at it.
THIS! (this comment is awesome!)
In brief:
Kazunori Sugiura = Don Mattrick
You sir are fucking Awesome!
too bad approval rating only goes to +1.0
Is he the guy responsible for making Capcom into the horrific mess it is today? Well if so, at least there's a face to go with the horseshit now.
He's not the sole individual. Make no mistake.
He is definitely part of the problem now though, considering all the bullshit he's spewing out.
don't you remember guys? mobile was suppose to take over...
console launching records (two of them) and steam beating it's online userbase records...
But DmC is really good... And the PC version is even better than the console version.
you're the cancer that's killing gaming if you thought DmC was good.
like only 500,000 gamers thought that shit was good, and these are the people who never even liked Devil May Cry in the first. 2 button infinites and easy SSS combos for the fucking lose.
You misspelled bad.
Um.... actually, DmC revamp was very well received by various who knew how to separate it from 'Classic' DmC.
As shown by the sales.
They wanted it to sell 2 million copies.
When they realized that they can't get away that easily, they lowered their expectations to 1.2 million.
So, NO. DmC didn't do nearly as well as they wanted. Current figures reflect that.
Uh... I think it makes more sense to assume the DmC revamp was well received by people who didn't care to know anything about classic DmC.
God I hate these card battle games. Capcom is dead to me now.
Capcom is really dead to me when they stop making Monster Hunter...
While adding underwater fighting was a HORRIBLE move for MH, making a cardbattle game out of it... There are no words to describe that travesty.
I think the same : I''ve tried MH4 only a little, but the climbing feels just the same, a balance-breaking superpower. I love MH, but... No.
While that may sound like an exciting frontier to explore, those new abilities are disconnected from regular moves and kill the credibility (i'm not talking about realism), and the fear of turf that isn't naturally yours.
I moved to God Eater. First wasn't bad, for a first try at the genre, and GE2 combat system is really good : AI with distinct personalities... Something like "Wyvern's Dogma"
Is dead for make Monster Hunter for portables and for asia man. Poor assholes lvl Cirno.
Yeah. Social schmocial. Card battle games are the REAL cancer of the video game industry, with micro-transactions at a close second.
I really don't see what's with all the massive hatedom of CCGs. Complaining about things you don't like is silly.
Mainly that the sales model for "collectible" cards isn't very consumer-friendly, and ultimately skews the advantage to those that can spend the most on cards, because unless you're lucky with the "booster packs" you have to get a lot of those or buy the rare and powerful cards from resellers.
Personally I'd like to see somebody bust the "collectible" business model by making a good "customizable" card game, with no mystery packs, all the cards being sold in distinct "sets."
As bored as I am with Pokémon, I like how making your pokemon team is like building a deck, and instead of buying cards you root around in tall grass.
Agreed, though, I loved Card Fighter's Clash back in the day.
Agreed.
I dunno if I quite agree, I like a good card game if it's done right every now and then, I was addicted to Hearthstone for weeks. A good example of a card game done right.
the point you said you were addicted to it -->for weeks<-- simply drives home the point that those games are just over glorified facebook games.. and not a true pc or console game
Comment by Burly
21:36 13/01/2014
God I hate these card battle games. Capcom is dead to me now.
^
don't worry,capcom was already dead since the megaman legends gate incident
capcom
お前はもう死んでいる!!
(omae wa mo shindeiru!!)
WAAATAAAAAAA!!!!!
Even Blizzard is making one.
and its glorious
lol nerd
mtg is 4 neckbeard losers
lol. If you like MTG for kiddos...
>implying I said anything about personally playing MTG
>implying you're not a virgin nerd if you're playing WoW card games
Same here, I hate card games.
Capcom was dead to me with the second Street Fighter II sequel.
I got tired of their side scrolling fight games really fast.
New characters!
New Moves!
New Story
Big fucking deal!
Real gamers would disagree with this so much.
Why would they care about what real gamers think, when casual gamers are so numerous and bring them more money, for a tiny fraction of the investment?
Casual is not a stable market, because casual is not really into gaming. They'll quickly bored and leave the game and Capcom to dust after the brief playing.
BINGO! Even casual gamers who like HoP's are getting more discriminating and choosy about what they buy and what they get through other means.
Are you kidding? There is never a short supply of bored people who are looking for a way to kill a few minutes. Casual video games fill that spot especially well.
Well duh. Why do you think the casual market is consistently spammed by small throwaway titles that can't hold your interest for more than 5 minutes, even if you were trying?
They also play shovelware the very same kinda of quality shovelware that caused the 1983 video game crash.
"(Insert Name) has always been a company I can trust."
Until they start making social games.
That's the rage these days!
It certainly enrages me!
RIP In Peace, Capcom 20XX
Rest in Peace in Peace?! Is this the new way to say "double Rip"?
It means Rest in Pieces in Peace.
It means F*** Capcom if they go with this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DtIL225pZw
20XX eh? Nice reference to Megaman series.
RIP Capcom.
Note that they never show any Breath of Fire characters in any of these character compilation shots, or have them feature in any of their crossover games.
They just fucking hate that series and its fans (more so than megaman fans, if that's even possible!), which is proven by the fact that they raped BoF to death with the latest installment.
Fuck you capcom. Please fucking die horribly. And do it soon, so that all your IP can be auctioned off to other people who actually have a fucking clue what to do with it.
As much as I hate Capcom for pushing Breath of Fire into the shadows, the last thing I want would be for their IP's to be auctioned off. It almost never goes well and at the very least it won't feel the same.
And worse case, no-one buys BoF and it becomes bundled to a company that doesn't care or it's not sold at all.
BoF had alot of potential like when Square SOFT had FF series but Capcom only focused on what is mainstream* to them. Same thing with Square Enix, they are both steering away from the gamers and targeting new casual-mobile gamers so that they could put micro-transaction in their games.
OR we could see something happen like Comcept buying the Megaman brand and renaming their game Megaman Mighty nr. 9 or something like that. Hell they wouldn't have to change a single thing about the game itself.
BoF could be bought by literally almost anyone and I would see a brighter future for it than the way it is in the hands of Capcom today (if you haven't heard about BoF6... go check it out).
All their other well known franchises would absolutely have high profile bidders who would surely treat them better than Capcom do, Except maybe Street Fighter since that's their favorite little baby.