Resident Evil Requiem, Dragon's Dogma 2, Monster Hunter Wilds — It's clear that Capcom is doing something right, as the studio keeps releasing favorites in many of its most famous franchises, as well as launching new favorites like Pragmata.
Capcom has gone from strength to strength, and studio president and COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto believes he knows why. According to Tsujimoto, Capcom's shift from individual game development to a more team approach has revitalized many of the company's series.
In an interview with Famitsu (via Automaton ), Tsujimoto revealed, “In the game industry, when a title becomes a series, it often ends up being heavily dependent on a particular developer and becomes what you would call an individual-driven title,” he explained. “If the person doesn't make one, there will be no further payment.
It can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, consistent direction throughout the series ensures that the series remains tonally consistent throughout and that the original director's vision is seen through to the end. On the other hand, a series directed by a single person can stagnate and the director can burn out and produce an inferior game as a result.
“We discussed this issue with the central characters of each franchise and ultimately agreed that we should abandon this approach,” he continued. “What we came up with instead was the idea that every title should basically be rebuilt from the ground up. We didn't mind if sales temporarily dropped as a result, and by moving to a team approach to game development, Capcom changed dramatically.”
Resident Evil Requiem has a “phantom” chapter that was cut from the game
According to its director, the second chapter remained on the cutting room floor.
While it's certainly a brand value to have games tied to one character—Neil Druckmann, Cory Barlog, Hideo Kojima, and others immediately spring to mind—Capcom's diverse approach seems to be working well for them, and perhaps more importantly, the studio is releasing games with a regular cadence.
For example, several recent Resident Evil games have had different directors. Biohazard and Requiem were directed by Koshi Nakanishi, Village was directed by Morimasa Sato, Resident Evil 4 Remake by Yasuhiro Anpo and Kazunori Kadoi and so on.
Release regularity is extremely important to maintaining cultural relevance, and Capcom for the most part understands that it needs to pursue multiple projects at once to stay at the top of its game.
- Date of establishment
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June 11, 1983
- CEO
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Kenzo Tsujimoto
- Subsidiaries
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Capcom Taiwan, Capcom USA, Capcom Vancouver, Capcom Division 1, Capcom Production Studio 4, Capcom Production Studio 1, Capcom Production Studio 2, Capcom Production Studio 3, Capcom Maintenance Service Co., Ltd.
- Headquarters
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Osaka, Osaka, Japan
