PixlBit

Capcom was one of my favorite companies back in the day. Nowadays not so much. I don't think I've bought a Capcom game since Resident Evil 5. I guess if games don't sell a gagillion copies than companies aren't interested in making them. I read somewhere that Tomb Raider was considered a failure, and it sold like 3.4 million copies lol.

They really should do something with Mega Man. 9 + 10 were great, but I'd love to see something new. His 25th Anniversary quietly passed us by. What's up with that crap?

I don't know who is handling sales projections at SE, but they clearly need to be fired.

With those numbers, it's clearly just bad management at play. The team that worked on Tomb Raider did what they needed to do.

It would be neat if Capcom would do more with Mega Man, but I have to admit that I'm pretty happy about them releasing DuckTales Remastered.  I think that's a step in the right direction.

Question is, just how much further are they willing to go? They didn't sound too keen on doing more digital re-releases after Darkstalkers and MvC: Origins didn't sell well. One of the execs specifically said it looks like the novelty is wearing off.

We'll have to see if that applies to non-fighting digital content. 

Yeah, I kind of knew they weren't going to touch Mega Man after the huge disappointment sales-wise that were those PSP remakes you mentioned. According to VGChartz.com at least, North America was ninety some-odd percent of the market for both, and combined they only sold a total of 4000 copies worldwide. Oof. Granted, I think much of that could be due to its platform. I recall PSP not being as popular outside North America. Could be wrong. Even with that in mind though, those aren't inspiring sales figures.

I saw footage of that gritty FPS reboot the other day and just didn't like where they were going with it, but I do like SFXMM, and like Carey, I think Duck Tales Powered Up is a good idea.

I really hope someone makes a future for Mega Man, but you're right, I question if Capcom cares to.

At this point, I REALLY doubt it. They've had plenty of time to do more with it--nearly 8 years since this gen started, in fact. It's not like there's anyhting holding them back.

Also, I agree that Maverick Hunter didn't look too promising. A gritty FPS reboot sounds like the most generic, uninspired premise possible in the current gaming climate, and none of the footage makes it look any better than I'd expect. I'll bet if they'd released it, many people would've been pissed anyway.

Maverick Hunter would have ended up like Bomberman: Act Zero on 360. It looked like a shameless attempt to pander to the American "dudebro" audience that would probably have ignored it and gone back to Halo 4.

Pretty much. Throwing the franchise onto the overloaded FPS/TPS bandwagon at all would've been a gamble no matter how they approached it.

I feel respinsible for this blog somehow...

Anyway, we all loved Capcom but since ps3 ear things have taken a turn for the worst, Some of there excellent games they don't advertise and the ones that do well are often watered down from what gave the serious fame. I'm less upset about the on disk dlc of SFxT but rather how underwhelming it all is

Maverick Hunter as it was, was very bad but the concept alone had potential, it would have been better 3rd person though. A change in the art direction could have saved it. But like you say the fan backlash may have been huge.

It's nice to read a more informed assessment of what's going on with MegaMan and Capcom in general, i rea

I actually saw your blog after I posted this and was like "...well, shit." XD

And that's probably the worst aspect of Capcom.There's been too much brain drain at the company to maintain the quality of past generations. All the key players behind their biggest franchises are gone; their replacements haven't done nearly enough to pick up the slack. That would be a big problem even if they did everything else right--although it would be far more tolerable that way. 

What's going on with Capcom isn't really much different from what's going on anywhere else in the industry. These days, development costs are so inflated that companies want proven hits and low risk. That's why Activision is pretty much the Call of Duty factory these days, and why Capcom focuses on Street Fighter and Resident Evil. And it looks like they've milked the former pretty dry at this point. I'd like to see them do a new Breath of Fire, but that's probably out of the question in this climate. Heck, Camelot even offered to do Breath of Fire for them.

Pretty much. That inability to take risks due to prohibitive costs is something that the whole industry is dealing with. My issue, though, is that they don't even do a good job with their proven sellers, either. :p

I'm sort of happy they're bringing RE: Revelations to the PS3 and 360. Other than that? Though they still pump out a game I enjoy once in awhile they're no longer in my good graces like they were during my nes,snes,ps1,and ps2 days. They've let so many good franchises die (Okami,Viewtiful Joe, and Onimusha to name a few) so they'll have to do A LOT to become one of my favorite companies again.

I don't think it's just capcom though. Do EA & Activision do any better?

Not really. It's pretty much a "same crap different day" situation industry-wide. There's no excuse for the screw-ups they've made with their biggest sellers this gen, though.

The depths that Capcom has sunk to hit me last summer when their big game release was Dragon's Dogma, a Western-style RPG. I couldn't help but wonder what happened to the Japanese developer I had known and loved. They're still MIA.

How they thought that would sell 10 million copies is beyond me. I heard that it's pretty good, though.

Dragon's Dogma is a good game, and it's better than most "true" WRPGs made this generation. It might not have sold 10 million copies, but apparently Capcom is happy enough with it to make it a long-running franchise.

I think MM retired with Inafune. They might have Inti Creates do another title, but it's not a good IP for them anymore. Unless they get someone else with his vision, it's pretty much done.

Pretty much, yeah. Capcom isn't going to commit itself to Mega Man without him pushing for it at this point.

From what has been made public, Capcom was quite pleased with the sales of both Mega Man 9 & 10.  Inti Creates has a substantial amount of experience with the series now, having helmed the four Zero game, ZX/Advent, and 9/10, so I don't know why Capcom didn't continue to tap them for more games.  If the Zero series is anything to go by, Mega Man games are cheap to produce (I'd be surprised if they cost $1 million at this point) and can still make good money.  Especially if they continued the digital release trend.  Granted, these games are not going to shatter sales records, but they could have been a consistent source of revenue (and kept the series alive) as long as they were well made.

If all they are after is million-seller after million-seller, though, that leaves little room for smaller projects.  Of course, Mega Man could be put in that position again.  But, Capcom would have to expend a considerable amount of effort (and money in their marketing department) to get him there.

Seriously. You'd have thought that they'd at least release Mega Man Universe, what with it basically being an enhanced 8-bit experience. That they didn't even think THAT was worth releasing is just proof positive they don't give a fuck about the brand outside of merchandise. Hell, Legends 3 wouldn't have needed a GTA-sized budget.

It's a shame what has happened with some of Capcom's IPs that were truly remarkable, and have the potential to be so again. The innovation of platforming principles that the original Mega Man games, as well as X, pioneered leads me to believe that the series once again could be highly innovative, and have a very bright future.

The mega-blockbuster mentality is hurting this industry creatively (not in terms of indie games, but in terms of AAA titles) and financially. Look at what happened with RE: a title that embraced creativity and pioneered a new generation of survival horror - the REmake is still that damn good to this day! Flash-foward to today, and RE6 failed to live up to expectations because it took a watered-down, "everything to everyone approach."

At this point hell, give Mega Man to an indie team with a strong track record, and I guarantee it becomes enough of a success that Capcom regains interest.

And Capcom just today cut their profit projections for fiscal 2013 in half, and they're cancelling several more projects. So it's not like the strategy is working for them.

That, too, is endemic of the industry as a whole--bigger gambles leading to bigger risks, and bigger tumbles when things don't pan out. The whole thing is unsustainable.

In the end, You can not satisfy megaman fans

I mean let's look at yourself..Seems to me you just want a game that says megaman something..I am a big megaman fan..When I saw megaman legends..Worst idea forever!!!

I would rather capcom just put it to the side..And let's not make megaman game a madden game, or a call of duty game.

Unless capcom has a good idea with megaman, leave the blue bomber alone!

What? No, I don't just want a "a game that says Megaman something." Maverick Hunter looked terrible. I would appreciate it if Capcom just gave a straight answer as to whether or not they wanted to do anything with the franchise, though.

Don't hold back now...tell us how you feel! This topic really has you steamed. And with good reason. Mega Man has not been given due respect for all he's done for Capcom. It's a crying shame and has me pissed as well. I did not know there had been that many cancellations. That makes no sense to me. Why do that sort of crap to loyal fans who fork over their hard earned cash to you?