Capcom

Capcom Co., Ltd.
Native name
 株式会社カプコン
Kabushiki-gaisha Kapukon
Public
Traded as TYO: 9697
Industry Video games
Founded May 30, 1979 (1979-05-30)[1]
Headquarters Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan
Key people
 Kenzo Tsujimoto
(Chairman and CEO)
Haruhiro Tsujimoto
(President and COO)
Products Complete list of games
Revenue Increase ¥25.9 billion / US$239.6 million (2014)[2][3]
Increase ¥2.9 billion / US$26.8 million (2014)[2][3]
Number of employees
 2,601 (2014)[4]
Subsidiaries Capcom Vancouver
Website www.capcom.com

Capcom Co., Ltd. (Japanese: 株式会社カプコン, Hepburn: Kabushiki-gaisha Kapukon), or Capcom, is a Japanese video game developer and publisher[4] known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Mega Man, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Ace Attorney, and Monster Hunter, "Yo! Noid" as well as games based on the Disney animated properties. Originally established in 1979,[5] it has since become an international enterprise with subsidiaries in North America, Europe, and East Asia.[6]

History

Capcom's first predecessor, I.R.M Corporation, was founded on May 30, 1979[7] by Kenzo Tsujimoto. Tsujimoto was still president of Irem Corporation when he founded I.R.M. Tsujimoto worked concomitantly in both companies until leaving the former in 1983.

The original companies that spawned Capcom's Japanese branch were I.R.M as well as its subsidiary Japan Capsule Computers Co., Ltd., both of which were devoted to the manufacturing and distribution of electronic game machines.[5] The two companies underwent a name change to Sambi Co., Ltd. in September 1981,[5] while Capcom Co., Ltd. was first established on June 11, 1983 by Kenzo Tsujimoto,[7] for the purpose of taking over the internal sales department.[8]

In January 1989, the old affiliate company Capcom Co., Ltd. merged with Sambi Co., Ltd., resulting in the current Japanese branch.[5] The name Capcom is a clipped compound of "Capsule Computers", a term coined by the company to describe the arcade machines it solely manufactured in its early years, designed to set themselves apart from personal computers that were becoming widespread at that time.[9] The word capsule alludes to how Capcom likened its game software to "a capsule packed to the brim with gaming fun", as well as to the company's desire to protect its intellectual property with a hard outer shell, preventing illegal copies and inferior imitations.[9]

While Capcom's first product was the coin-operated Little League from July 1983, its first real video game, the arcade title Vulgus, was released in May 1984.[5] Beginning with a Nintendo Entertainment System port of 1942 published in December 1985, the company started to venture into the market of home console video games,[5] which became its main business segment a few years later.[10] Its division Capcom USA even had a brief stint in the late 1980s as a video game publisher for the Commodore 64 and IBM PC DOS computers although the development of these arcade ports were handled by other companies. Since then, Capcom has created 15 multi-million-selling game series, the most successful of which is Resident Evil.[11]

Capcom has been noted as the last major publisher to be committed to 2D games, though this was not entirely by choice. The company's continued commitment to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as its platform of choice caused them to lag behind other leading publishers in developing 3D-capable arcade boards.[12] In addition, the 2D animated cartoon-style graphics seen in games such as Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors and X-Men: Children of the Atom proved immensely popular, leading Capcom to adopt it as a signature style and use it in more games.[12]

In 1994, Capcom adapted its Street Fighter series of fighting games into a film of the same name. While commercially successful, the production received almost universal criticism. A 2002 adaptation of its Resident Evil series faced similar criticism but was also successful in theaters. The company sees films as a way to build sales for its video games.[13]

Capcom partnered with Nyu Media in 2011 to publish and distribute the Japanese independent (dōjin soft) games that Nyu localized into the English language.[14] The company works with the Polish localization company QLoc to port Capcom's games to other platforms,[15] notably examples are DmC: Devil May Cry's PC version and its PlayStation 4/Xbox One remasters, Dragon's Dogma's PC version released in January 2016, and Dead Rising's version on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC released on September 13, 2016.

In August 27, 2014, Capcom filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Koei Tecmo Games at the Osaka District Court for 980 million yen in damage. Capcom claimed Koei Tecmo Games infringed a patent it obtained in 2002 regarding play feature of the video games.[16]

Corporate structure

Development studios

In the first few years after its establishment, the Japanese branch of Capcom had three development groups referred to as "Planning Rooms", led by Tokuro Fujiwara, Takashi Nishiyama and Yoshiki Okamoto, respectively.[17][18] Later, games developed internally used to be created by several numbered "Production Studios", each assigned to different games.[19][20] Starting in 2002, the development process was reformed to better share technologies and expertise, and all of the individual studios were gradually restructured into bigger departments responsible for different tasks.[20] While there are self-contained departments for the creation of arcade, pachinko and pachislo, online, and mobile games, the Consumer Games R&D Division instead is an amalgamation of subsections in charge of various game development stages.[20][21][22]

In addition to these internal teams, Capcom also commissions outside development studios to ensure a steady output of titles.[23][24] However, following poor sales of Dark Void and Bionic Commando, the company's management has decided to limit outsourcing to sequels and newer versions of installments in existing franchises, reserving the development of original titles for its in-house teams.[25] The production of games, budgets, and platforms supported are decided upon in development approval meetings, attended by the company management and the marketing, sales, and quality control departments.[20]

Branches and subsidiaries

Apart from the head office building and the R&D building of Capcom Co., Ltd., both located in Chūō-ku, Osaka,[6] the Japanese parent company also has a branch office in the Shinjuku Mitsui Building in Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo.[26] It also has the Ueno Facility, a branch office in Iga, Mie Prefecture.[6]

The international Capcom Group currently encompasses 15 subsidiaries in Japan, North America, Europe, and East Asia.[6][20] Affiliated companies include Koko Capcom Co., Ltd. in South Korea, Street Fighter Film, LLC in the United States, and Dellgamadas Co., Ltd.[20]

In addition to the development and publishing of home, online, mobile, arcade, pachinko, and pachislo games, the company publishes strategy guides,[5] maintains its own arcade centers in Japan known as Plaza Capcom, and licenses its franchise and character properties for use in tie-in products, movies, television series, and stage performances.[10]

Suleputer, an in-house marketing and music label established in cooperation with Sony Music Entertainment Intermedia in 1998, publishes CDs, DVDs, and other media based on Capcom's games.[27] Capcom also owns numerous arcade game centers known as Plaza Capcom(s),including one in Narita, Futtsu ,and others. An annual private media summit called Captivate, renamed from Gamers Day in 2008, is traditionally used as a platform for new game and business announcements.[28]

Mega Man and Ryu, from the Mega Man series and Street Fighter series respectively, appear as playable characters in Nintendo's games Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (the latter character as DLC), and both have an amiibo.

Games

Capcom launched its Street Fighter franchise in 1987. The series of fighting games are among the most popular in their genre, and have sold over 30 million units. That same year, 1987, the company introduced its Mega Man series. Selling nearly 30 million units, the series serves as Capcom's flagship franchise.

The company developed the inaugural entry in its Resident Evil survival horror series in 1996. The series has achieved enormous success, selling nearly 50 million units. Following work on the second entry in the Resident Evil series, Capcom began work on a Resident Evil game for the new PlayStation 2. Radically different from the existing series, Capcom decided to spin off the game into its own series, Devil May Cry. While it released the first two entries exclusively for the PS2 the company brought further entries to non-Sony consoles. The series as a whole has seen sales in excess of 10 million units. Capcom also initiated its Monster Hunter series in 2004. The games have seen sales of over 20 million units on a variety of consoles.

Although the company often relies on existing franchises, it also published and developed several titles for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii, based on original intellectual property: Lost Planet, Dead Rising, Dragon's Dogma, Asura's Wrath and Zack and Wiki.[29] During this period, Capcom also helped publish several original titles from then up and coming Western developers in titles like Remember Me, Dark Void and Spyborgs, titles that many other publishers were not willing to take a chance on.[30][31] Also of note are the titles Ōkami, Ōkamiden and Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. Currently, Capcom is working on its latest new intellectual property, Deep Down, for the PlayStation 4.

Controversies

In 2012, Capcom was criticized for controversial sales tactics, such as having to pay for additional content which is already available within the game's files, most notably in Street Fighter X Tekken. Capcom has defended the practice.[32] The company has been criticized for other business decisions, such as not releasing certain games outside Japan, not releasing certain games in physical format for western markets, abruptly cancelling anticipated projects (most notably Mega Man Legends 3), and shutting down Clover Studio.[33] In 2015, the company pulled the PlayStation 4 version of Ultra Street Fighter IV from the Capcom Pro Tour due to numerous technical issues and gameplay bugs.[34] In 2016, Capcom released Street Fighter V with very limited single player content. Arcade mode that was requested by fans was nowhere to be found, and the game received negative user reviews and low user ratings on Metacritic. At launch, there were issues with unstable network that boots them out mid-game even when they were not playing online modes that pits them against other players. Street Fighter V failed to meet its sales target of 2 million in March 2016.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "CAPCOM - Corporate Overview". Archived from the original on April 15, 2010.
  2. 1 2 Graft, Kris (May 7, 2010). "Capcom Posts 73 Percent Profit Drop Amid Major Delays, Weak Sales". Gamasutra. United Business Media. Archived from the original on May 10, 2010. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
  3. 1 2 "Sluggish Financial Results for ended March 31, 2010". Capcom Co., Ltd. May 7, 2010. Archived from the original on May 10, 2010. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
  4. 1 2 "Corporate Information: Corporate Overview". Capcom Co., Ltd. March 31, 2010. Archived from the original on April 15, 2010. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Corporate Information: History". Capcom Co., Ltd. September 30, 2009. Archived from the original on April 15, 2010. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Corporate Information: Capcom Group". Capcom Co., Ltd. August 31, 2009. Archived from the original on April 22, 2010. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  7. 1 2 Ocampo, Jason (June 11, 2008). "Capcom Marks 25th Anniversary". IGN. IGN Entertainment, Inc. Archived from the original on October 4, 2009. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  8. ↑ 会社情報 カプコンの歴史 (in Japanese). Capcom Co., Ltd. September 30, 2009. Archived from the original on March 5, 2010. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  9. 1 2 会社情報 社名の由来 (in Japanese). Capcom Co., Ltd. Archived from the original on March 5, 2010. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
  10. 1 2 "Corporate Information: Business Segments". Capcom Co., Ltd. September 30, 2009. Archived from the original on March 1, 2010. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  11. ↑ "Business Strategies & IR Data: Total Sales Units Data". Capcom Co., Ltd. March 31, 2010. Archived from the original on March 27, 2014. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  12. 1 2 "Capcom". Next Generation. No. 17. Imagine Media. May 1996. pp. 67–69.
  13. ↑ Gaudiosi, John. "Capcom Seeks More Playtime in HWood." Hollywood Reporter 397 (2006): 4,4,29. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 30 May 2012.
  14. ↑ Cowan, Danny (December 13, 2011). "Nyu Media, Capcom To Publish Localized Doujin PC Games Starting This Month". IndieGames.com. UBM Tech. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Dustforce Sweeping onto Xbox Live Arcade and PSN for PS3, Vita January 2014". Archived from the original on July 5, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
  16. ↑ Matulef, Jeffrey (27 August 2014). "Capcom files lawsuit against Koei Tecmo for patent infringement". Archived from the original on August 16, 2016.
  17. ↑ ゲーム業界を"爆発"させた"ストライダー"の父 「四井浩一」 　ディスコグラフィー. Gameside (in Japanese). Micro Magazine (16). February 2009.
  18. ↑ Capcom Co., Ltd (March 7, 1989). Strider Hiryū. Capcom Co., Ltd. Scene: staff credits.
  19. ↑ Nix, Marc (March 23, 2007). "The Future of PSP – Capcom". IGN. IGN Entertainment, Inc. Archived from the original on February 23, 2011. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Annual Report 2009" (PDF). Capcom Co., Ltd. September 17, 2009. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 15, 2012. Retrieved July 20, 2010.
  21. ↑ "Developer Interview 2008". Capcom Co., Ltd. Archived from the original on October 4, 2010. Retrieved July 24, 2010.
  22. ↑ "Annual Report 2007" (PDF). Capcom Co., Ltd. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 20, 2012. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
  23. ↑ "Developer Interview 2009: vol08.Keiji Inafune". Capcom Co., Ltd. Archived from the original on April 7, 2010. Retrieved November 6, 2010.
  24. ↑ "Developer Interview 2010: vol01.Jun Takeuchi". Capcom Co., Ltd. Archived from the original on October 3, 2010. Retrieved November 6, 2010.
  25. ↑ Orsini, Lauren (May 17, 2010). "Bionic Commando, Dark Void Last Straws For Capcom". Kotaku. Archived from the original on June 20, 2010. Retrieved November 6, 2010.
  26. ↑ "Locations Archived October 7, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.." Capcom. Retrieved on August 12, 2011. "3-1-3 Uchihirano-machi, Chuo-ku, Osaka 540-0037, Japan" and "Shinjuku Mitsui Building 2-1-1 Nishi Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo"
  27. ↑ "Annual Report 1998" (PDF). Capcom Co., Ltd. Retrieved July 23, 2010.
  28. ↑ Kramer, Chris (March 28, 2008). ""Gamers Day" is dead, long live the CAPTIVATE08 Media Summit". Capcom Entertainment, Inc. Archived from the original on November 5, 2010. Retrieved July 24, 2010.
  29. ↑ "Lost Planet & Dead Rising; Capcom Brings New Blood to Xbox 360." EGM [i] 2006: 1-41. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 30 May 2012.
  30. ↑ Douglass C. Perry (21 August 2009). "How Airtight Games started a console game studio with just $24,000". VentureBeat. Archived from the original on February 4, 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  31. ↑ Stephany Nunneley (27 November 2012). "Remember Me developer discusses amicable split with Sony, Capcom's enthusiasim". VG247. Archived from the original on January 28, 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  32. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (2012-04-02). "Capcom defends on-disc DLC - Report". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2012-04-04.
  33. ↑ ScrewAttack, Top 10 Capcom Mistakes Archived April 25, 2013, at the Wayback Machine., ScrewAttack's Top 10, GameTrailers.com, 09/05/2012.
  34. ↑ Wesley Yin-Poole, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved 2016-07-03., Eurogamer.net, 06/01/2015.
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