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[ArtHands]

Capcom Targets Smartphone Gamers

Japanese video game studio Capcom says high-quality games should become more playable on a wider range of smartphones in the next few years. The company is hoping that will unlock opportunities to reach gamers that don’t have consoles and PCs. COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto tells Bloomberg about the...

www.bloomberg.com

“For many years, PC has been our main platform. While we will continue to use the PC as our main platform, I hope to achieve our 100 million copies goal with contribution from AAA-type titles on smartphones.” - COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto

 

[German Hops]

100 million copies of what? Street Fighter 6?

 

[adamsapple]

100 million copies of what? SF 6?

I'm thinking they meant cumulative in a fiscal year.

 

[RoboFu]

It’s a good plan I’ll buy on both.
Just skip the consoles altogether capcom. I want to see the chaos!


Mwhahaha!!

 

[Mibu no ookami]

100 million copies across the board in a year.

It's a pipedream and mobile isn't the landscape that they think it is. That being said, one Genshin Impact like game could easily get them like 50 million downloads if it is f2p.. So how that's measured is going to be very suspect.

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

100 million copies of what? Street Fighter 6?

 

[Mr Moose]

100 million copies of what? Street Fighter 6?

Resident Evil on iPhone.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Honestly, that was an awful interview.

 

[Lokaum D+]

lol

 

[ReBurn]

I'm probably not paying AAA prices to play on my phone.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Mobile dwarfs everything else, but full priced games are an entirely different beast.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I'm probably not paying AAA prices to play on my phone.

They want 60 dollars for RE4 on iPhone... they're also out of their minds.

 

[ReBurn]

They want 60 dollars for RE4 on iPhone... they're also out of their minds.

I agree. That's not a place I'm ready to go.

 

[rapid32.5]

Konami also wanted to go mobile route look how well that turned out. Stick to the basics Capcom.

 

[Sleepwalker]

So they were at 99,999,998 copies and will reach 100mill with the help of the 2 ios customers.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

I agree. That's not a place I'm ready to go.

Ultimately it comes down to delusional greed.

I'd also be surprised if PC was their largest revenue-driving platform. I thought we had a link on that at some point where maybe they showed that it was, I also think that's largely because PC is less likely to hit peaks and troughs in between cycles.

 

[Mister Wolf]

PC should be every developer's main platform. It's how you future proof your game.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Does F2P download count?

So if Capcom released F2P versions of SF and RE getting 90M downloads and the remaining 10M copies were traditional priced copies, does that count as 100M?

 

[Gameplay Gods Bless]

Ultimately it comes down to delusional greed.

I'd also be surprised if PC was their largest revenue-driving platform. I thought we had a link on that at some point where maybe they showed that it was, I also think that's largely because PC is less likely to hit peaks and troughs in between cycles.

PC has been their money maker for years now. They switched to PC being their main platform a few years back and it shows with games like RE4 running like a dream on PC while having issues on PS5/Xbox.


Other publishers like CDPR also made comments about PC being their biggest money maker. Witcher 3 sold best on PC as did Cyberpunk for example.

 

[Scotty W]

I wish they’d release SFIV on the Switch.

 

[Zuzu]

They gotta get mainline Monster Hunter games on mobile. The most recent one should run easily on mobile since it was on Switch.

 

[Fbh]

Weren't they whining that games are too cheap the other day?.

Are they expecting more than 5 people to buy $80 AAA games on phones?

 

[Azelover]

Beware hardcore gamers.. a dark age is coming.. if we let it..

 

[Mibu no ookami]

PC has been their money maker for years now. They switched to PC being their main platform a few years back and it shows with games like RE4 running like a dream on PC while having issues on PS5/Xbox.


Other publishers like CDPR also made comments about PC being their biggest money maker. Witcher 3 sold best on PC as did Cyberpunk for example.

Big difference between units and revenue. Not to mention operating income, with PC costs inflating due to the need to build across specs.

 

[AREYOUOKAY?]

Well then flood the market with Mega Man games again why don't you? I'm sure there's a few other ignored series of yours you can revive again.

 

[Arsic]

100 million copies across the board in a year.

It's a pipedream and mobile isn't the landscape that they think it is. That being said, one Genshin Impact like game could easily get them like 50 million downloads if it is f2p.. So how that's measured is going to be very suspect.

100m is not a pipe dream if you release a phone monster Hunter, pc monster Hunter, and throw in some resident evils.

 

[Kilau]

Capcom was bound to go Capcpom again, damnit.

 

[StereoVsn]

Who the F do they think is going to buy games like RE4 for $60+ on a smartphone? Mobile users have been conditioned to pay nothing upfront.

Edit: $60 for the game, $20 for DLC plus MTX. That shit on a late release with dubious value in the platform. It’s insanity.

 

[Mr. PlayStation]

To F with smartphones being touted as console/PC equivalent gaming devices.

 

[March Climber]

Utamaru1706

 

[drganon]

We get it artie, you don't like consoles.

 

[RickMasters]

Beware hardcore gamers.. a dark age is coming.. if we let it..

To F with smartphones being touted as console/PC equivalent gaming devices.

Kids today don’t really give a shit about consoles. They play on phones and tablets. The industry will go where the money is.


Times change is all.

 

[bender]

Hopefully the next mainline RE is smartphone exclusive.

 

[DrFigs]

they meant to say "by using smartphones as our main platform". hope this helps

 

[adamsapple]

Hopefully the next mainline RE is smartphone exclusive.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

100m is not a pipe dream if you release a phone monster Hunter, pc monster Hunter, and throw in some resident evils.

Or they could release a phone monster hunter, pc monster hunter, and throw in some resident evils

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Ultimately it comes down to delusional greed.

I'd also be surprised if PC was their largest revenue-driving platform. I thought we had a link on that at some point where maybe they showed that it was, I also think that's largely because PC is less likely to hit peaks and troughs in between cycles.

It isn't, and it's rather perplexing either Capcom are saying it is, or whoever is writing the article for the interview is framing it that way. We have Capcom's fiscal results for previous FYs and PS is the breadwinner by a large margin. Nintendo's also up there.

However, if by "main platform" they mean PC being their largest potential growth sector, then I agree with that. They more or less know their audience size on PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox. But their efforts on PC have been more recent by comparison, and with smartphones, even more of a late start for Capcom.

So they can see huge percentage gains on those platforms compared to the consoles; that doesn't actually mean PC or smartphone become the big breadwinners. If they take a big lead in unit sales, well game prices are usually cheaper and drop much steeper on PC & smartphones than the consoles. Also apparently there's this:

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/capc...dia-passing-those-in-china-in-decade.1661564/

And markets like India are big on PC gaming. If Capcom wants to expand in those markets, of course they'd see PC as their main growth platform.

I would just be really, REALLY happy if that didn't inadvertently benefit Microsoft given Windows being so prolific in the PC space, especially for gaming. Hopefully in these emerging markets, Linux distros become the go-to for gaming (Valve's efforts with Steam on Linux will help a lot here).

 

[ArtHands]

Well then flood the market with Mega Man games again why don't you? I'm sure there's a few other ignored series of yours you can revive again.

They released Mega Man X Dive Offline earlier this month onto Steam, iOS and Android.

MEGA MAN X DiVE Offline | CAPCOM

The offline version of MEGA MAN X DiVE, a game centered around the hit action series Mega Man X, is coming to Steam, iOS, and Android!

www.capcom-games.com

 

[AREYOUOKAY?]

They released Mega Man X Dive Offline earlier this month onto Steam, iOS and Android.

MEGA MAN X DiVE Offline | CAPCOM

The offline version of MEGA MAN X DiVE, a game centered around the hit action series Mega Man X, is coming to Steam, iOS, and Android!

www.capcom-games.com

Release new Mega Man games.

 

[DrFigs]

It isn't, and it's rather perplexing either Capcom are saying it is, or whoever is writing the article for the interview is framing it that way. We have Capcom's fiscal results for previous FYs and PS is the breadwinner by a large margin. Nintendo's also up there.

However, if by "main platform" they mean PC being their largest potential growth sector, then I agree with that. They more or less know their audience size on PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox. But their efforts on PC have been more recent by comparison, and with smartphones, even more of a late start for Capcom.

So they can see huge percentage gains on those platforms compared to the consoles; that doesn't actually mean PC or smartphone become the big breadwinners. If they take a big lead in unit sales, well game prices are usually cheaper and drop much steeper on PC & smartphones than the consoles. Also apparently there's this:

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/capc...dia-passing-those-in-china-in-decade.1661564/

And markets like India are big on PC gaming. If Capcom wants to expand in those markets, of course they'd see PC as their main growth platform.

I would just be really, REALLY happy if that didn't inadvertently benefit Microsoft given Windows being so prolific in the PC space, especially for gaming. Hopefully in these emerging markets, Linux distros become the go-to for gaming (Valve's efforts with Steam on Linux will help a lot here).

I thought it was weird that this was the framing, but i will admit that i'm a pony.

 

[FeralEcho]

So this was it for Capcom.It was fun while it lasted guys,lets enjoy DD2 and hopefully the next Monster Hunter before the greed settles in completely and ultimately destroys the company as time goes by.It happened to so many.

They're making more money than ever and are one of the most successful gaming companies in Japan but that ain't enough.MORE MORE MORE.

 

[Dream-Knife]

Mobile AAA is the new blockchain.

 

[Comandr]

Successful games company announces they want to have more success.

 

[Robb]

with contribution from AAA-type titles on smartphones

The iPhone 15 Pro version of the Resident Evil 4 remake will cost $60

 

[Utamaru1706]

Utamaru1706

lol, good luck selling fully priced games on mobile platform...

And what Capcom's planning to do is still vastly different compared to what Chinese and Korean devs, where the former just porting their PC/console games to mobile, but putting premium price tags on them, while the latter is making AAA quality free-to-play mobile games, then they port it to PC/consoles.

I really doubt Capcom would release their next RE, SF, or MonHun as a free-to-play mobile game with AAA quality, because the risks are not worth it compared when they released it on PC and consoles with the usual price tag.

So this was it for Capcom.It was fun while it lasted guys,lets enjoy DD2 and hopefully the next Monster Hunter before the greed settles in completely and ultimately destroys the company as time goes by.It happened to so many.

They're making more money than ever and are one of the most successful gaming companies in Japan but that ain't enough.MORE MORE MORE.

Monster Hunter Now were just released like a week ago, and it's already climbing to the top of charts on both App Store and Playstore, although that one was from Niantic instead of Capcom themselves...

 

[DenchDeckard]

Maybe if resi on smart phone was 20 to 30 dollars tops lol.

But, I do love capcoms commitment to pc.

 

[March Climber]

gif

lol, good luck selling fully priced games on mobile platform...

And what Capcom's planning to do is still vastly different compared to what Chinese and Korean devs, where the former just porting their PC/console games to mobile, but putting premium price tags on them, while the latter is making AAA quality free-to-play mobile games, then they port it to PC/consoles.

Someone has to take that first leap

I really doubt Capcom would release their next RE, SF, or MonHun as a free-to-play mobile game with AAA quality, because the risks are not worth it compared when they released it on PC and consoles with the usual price tag.

Again, you keep approaching this the wrong way lol. With the method they're implementing, there would be no reason in the future to develop different free to play AAA titles for mobile. There would be no need to pay a 3rd party dev team for an outsourced game called 'Monster Hunter Now'. Instead it would simply be the exact same AAA title as their PC and console game(like Monster Hunter World 2 in the future), just now fully on mobile as well. There's way less cost and risk doing the latter, other than the very simple risks and costs of development(like slightly tweaking controls for mobile) and having your game simply being sold on another storefront.

 

[hlm666]

Gaming | Snapdragon Studios

Snapdragon Studios enables immersive games for mobile, PC, VR, and AR, by utilizing cutting edge rendering and optimization technology, transforming the next generation of entertainment experiences on all platforms. We have the best-in-class rendering technologies in gaming today. Come game with us!

www.snapdragonstudios.com

I think capcom could get some pretty good ports going on modern high end phones.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

Someone has to take that first leap

This is it, I think it's likely that Capcom and Apple are partnering on this and that Apple will support Capcom in various ways to make it happen.

Apple want to drive up game prices on their platform and Capcom obviously want the sales. It wouldn't surprise me to see Apple pushing these games in their ad campaigns to try and make their devices be seen as a host to AAA games - with AAA prices, margins and royalties. Apple appear to be trying to make gaming on Mac happen too, so I think it's on the agenda for them across the board.

I agree with your other point that not having to create bespoke versions of games for mobile hardware is also a win, it's more money for less effort. There are lots of reasons for both Apple and Publishers to make this work, so I assume that over the next couple of years we'll see a decent amount of effort go into making iPhone feel like a place to play games.

What I do think is interesting here is that iPhone storage sizes would seem to be not automatically the best fit for gaming. I wonder if they'll come up with a system to partially install games for those getting close to the 128gb that the base iPhone 15 Pro ships with.