Capcom Prepares for Big Month
Street Fighter IV and Resident Evil 5 Both Hitting Stores Soon
Feb 9, 2009
Every publisher has at least one franchise that it can rely on to bring in good sales. Electronic Arts has Madden. Rockstar has Grand Theft Auto.
Some publishers even have multiple franchises, but very rarely does one publisher have the good fortune to release two huge games in the course of a month.
However, that’s exactly what Capcom is doing. The latest installments in two of the company’s biggest franchises – Resident Evil and Street Fighter – are both slated for release in the next month.
Street Fighter IV, the first real new Street Fighter game to be released in years, is hitting store shelves on February 17, and Resident Evil 5 is releasing less than a month later on March 13.
“We've had great support from fans on both titles, spreading the word, speaking positively every time we put out new assets,” said Capcom’s VP of Strategic Planning and Business Development Christian Svensson in an e-mail interview with Suite 101. “It's been a really gratifying experience for the team here to work on both of these titles and we can't wait until they're in the fans' hands.”
Fan Involvement
Getting the fans involved is something Capcom takes very seriously, particularly when it comes to Street Fighter.
On February 12, Capcom will be hosting a huge launch party for Street Fighter IV that’s open to the fans.
Taking place at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the event is the culmination of many smaller events that have been taking place around the county in the past few months.
Live musical performances, development team autographs, and of course, plenty of Street Fighter arcade machines are on the bill for the event.
In Resident Evil’s case, Capcom has been releasing a steady stream of screenshots and trailers via the official web site for the game, and recently announced a video mixer that allows fans to create their own trailers for the game.
In addition to all of this, Capcom frequently hosts Xbox Live play sessions, giving fans a chance to play their favorite games against members of the development teams.
Building on Past Successes : Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network Releases
Even though the upcoming month will likely be Capcom’s best in recent history, the company has already been doing very well in a time when many publishers are cutting back.
The company announced in December that its Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network release, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, developed in collaboration with Udon Entertainment and Backbone Entertainment, broke sales records for the platform, selling more than 250,000 copies in less than a month.
If those numbers are any indication as to the interest in Street Fighter IV, then Capcom can look forward to a very sweet month, indeed.
 |
 |
