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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God I hate these card battle games. Capcom is dead to me now.
Yeah. Social schmocial. Card battle games are the REAL cancer of the video game industry, with micro-transactions at a close second.
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
Agreed.
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.
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.
Even Blizzard is making one.
and its glorious
lol. If you like MTG for kiddos...
lol nerd
mtg is 4 neckbeard losers
>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.
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!!!!!
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!
Nerd's nightmare = human interaction lol
Except that the only social part in "social games" is the "social" in the name... There is no social or human interaction whatsoever with these "games".
well i do not wish to live in world with social-only anything, i love rpgs with good story=singleplayer without any social bullshit, steam has achievements - its like comparing sizes of dick - nobody with brain gives a shit. When i wanna play multiplayer i just play game suited to interaction like left4dead and diference between social games and human interaction is like wathing porn/actualy doing it
Achievements and trophies also are a cancer that ruins gaming.
Well, they're usually good, right until they get annoying and show-offy. I remember trying to get all medals in Ace Combat was really fun, because they were private, even in online-integrated X2.
It's not the interacting we dislike, it's the interactees.
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.
way to prove yet again that the humble keyboard +mouse combo and/or a gamepad are a better interface than a touchscreen. these terrible social games with simplified controls wouldnt even have a reason to exist if it werent for the existance of touchscreen-only phones and tablets.
The PC really played a big part in this tragedy. Those hundreds of millions on facebook's social games.
And what about phones ?
PC really played a big part in "consoles upgrade" (3D cards, network games, HDD, rendering, bug fixes, extensions...)
Talk about washing hands. There's a good and bad side to things in life.
I guess the master race doesn't want to admit some truths. I am a PC gamer myself but man this is just disappointing.
What does the platform have to do with this? Do you also blame the ground for everything that happens over it? Is soil to blame for Nazism?
Its over, videogames is dead. All of us get a real hobby and play sports...or people's feelings.
...or social games
I'd rather die in a fire.
The same here.
I have no problem with the concept of Social Gaming in theory. If I'm playing War of the Vikings or Hawken and I've had an epic TDM mach "48 Kills and 2 Deaths! Gaze upon my worka ye mighty and despair!" I wouldn't mind being able to post my match statistics to Facebook or Twitter with a simple message from within the game.
However, in practice "Social Gaming" is coming to mean "low quality flash game that bombards your social media contacts with auto-generated invitations and updates they don't care about"
Social Gaming = shovelware it always has.
You do know all of these social games are becoming a thing is because these companies are shoving it down our throat right?
Pretty much. But it's also because there are too many people who just don't know what to do with themselves (because they don't have a life), and those people will get into this whole "social" crap.
There seem to be a lot of people who play these games just to, "waste time" (words I've heard people use), which I find really sad. When I play a videogame, I want it to challenge me, to make me think about what I'm doing and strive to learn how to improve and do better, in addition to entertaining me with the spectacle of the thing. I don't want it to, "waste", my time, but to GIVE me an experience worth SPENDING my time on.
For, "social", gamers, time doesn't seem to be a very precious resource. Neither is money, for that matter.
The underlying cause of the social games "craze" is that the great majority of us don't have the time to play a proper game. We're always working or have other obligations. This is a result of the faster-paced world we live in. So we gravitate toward games we can play for 20 minute stretches on the bus.
Even then there are still real games that could be played in that amount of time (such as Peace Walker with its bite-sized missions).
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!)
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...
too bad approval rating only goes to +1.0
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.
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.
But DmC is really good... And the PC version is even better than the console version.
You misspelled bad.
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.
In brief:
Kazunori Sugiura = Don Mattrick
You sir are fucking Awesome!