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Capcom comments on 3DS success, future Western collaborations
A portion of a Gamasutra interview with Capcom's Christian Svensson...
GS: Right now you have games on Vita, and Capcom is supporting that platform, and the Nintendo 3DS. Do you see smartphone games eating into that dedicated handheld market? Or can the two markets keep on growing separately of one another?
CS: That may be a market-by-market question. If anything, we're seeing in Japan that, quite frankly, the handheld market is alive and well, and I think it's going to continue. Nintendo 3DS is very successful there, and the Vita is off to a reasonable start early on. But we'll have to see what happens there longer there, in that particular [Japanese] market.
In our Western market, I think 3DS is off to a very good start, and Vita has, I think, surpassed much of the retail expectations based on our retailers that we've spoken with. Marvel vs. Capcom 3 [for Vita] is off to a good start. Most of our retail partners have us pegged at number two [on Vita] after [Naughty Dog's] Uncharted [The Golden Abyss]. We'll see what the tale of the tape looks like in a few weeks.
Long story short, while there may be some overlap, I think there's still going to be an audience for what I call deeper engagement and deeper funds, for lack of a better word. As a result, I think those two markets [dedicated handheld and mobiles] are going to be viable, and served by content creators.
GS: A couple years ago, there were some Western-developed Capcom games that didn't do that great, from Airtight and from GRIN. What steps were taken for improvement in that regard?
CS: Just launching this month, we have Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, which was done with a Western developer [Slant Six]. We had successes with Dead Rising 2, and subsequently acquired [its developer] Blue Castle, which is now Capcom Game Studio Vancouver. And they have multiple projects that continue to be in development. You will see additional titles announced from them.
DMC is probably also worth mentioning. [UK-based] Ninja Theory has engaged with us very, very deeply, probably the deepest engagement between Capcom Japan and the Western development process. There's been very, very tight collaboration between the two on that project.
So we've done many larger titles that way, and dare I say you'll see us announce some more in the not-so-distant future. Suffice to say, we have not at all stepped away [from Western developer partnerships]. We have sought to improve on our working process, our collaborative process, we have sought to improve upon the quality of the teams with which we work.
Full interview here
GS: Right now you have games on Vita, and Capcom is supporting that platform, and the Nintendo 3DS. Do you see smartphone games eating into that dedicated handheld market? Or can the two markets keep on growing separately of one another?
CS: That may be a market-by-market question. If anything, we're seeing in Japan that, quite frankly, the handheld market is alive and well, and I think it's going to continue. Nintendo 3DS is very successful there, and the Vita is off to a reasonable start early on. But we'll have to see what happens there longer there, in that particular [Japanese] market.
In our Western market, I think 3DS is off to a very good start, and Vita has, I think, surpassed much of the retail expectations based on our retailers that we've spoken with. Marvel vs. Capcom 3 [for Vita] is off to a good start. Most of our retail partners have us pegged at number two [on Vita] after [Naughty Dog's] Uncharted [The Golden Abyss]. We'll see what the tale of the tape looks like in a few weeks.
Long story short, while there may be some overlap, I think there's still going to be an audience for what I call deeper engagement and deeper funds, for lack of a better word. As a result, I think those two markets [dedicated handheld and mobiles] are going to be viable, and served by content creators.
GS: A couple years ago, there were some Western-developed Capcom games that didn't do that great, from Airtight and from GRIN. What steps were taken for improvement in that regard?
CS: Just launching this month, we have Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, which was done with a Western developer [Slant Six]. We had successes with Dead Rising 2, and subsequently acquired [its developer] Blue Castle, which is now Capcom Game Studio Vancouver. And they have multiple projects that continue to be in development. You will see additional titles announced from them.
DMC is probably also worth mentioning. [UK-based] Ninja Theory has engaged with us very, very deeply, probably the deepest engagement between Capcom Japan and the Western development process. There's been very, very tight collaboration between the two on that project.
So we've done many larger titles that way, and dare I say you'll see us announce some more in the not-so-distant future. Suffice to say, we have not at all stepped away [from Western developer partnerships]. We have sought to improve on our working process, our collaborative process, we have sought to improve upon the quality of the teams with which we work.