Originally formed in 1979,Capcomis a publisher with a library of franchises and mascots that arguably rivals that of Nintendo. With series likeMega Man,Resident Evil,Monster Hunter, andStreet Fighter,Capcomhas solidified itself as a major staple of the video game industry. Over the past ten years, the company has managed to find itself in a state of near-constant growth.
In the early 2010s, Capcom enacted a few eyebrow-rasing tactics with its DLC practices. Several games from that period likeResident Evil 6andDMC: Devil May Cryweren’t as well received by critics but still sold well for the company. This was the period when the publisher began to experience consecutive years of growth and, as time went on, the games started to improve and make even more money for the company. Games likeResident Evil 7: BiohazardandDevil May Cry 5,for example, were well received by gamers and critics and sold very well for the publisher. The new versions ofResident Evil 2andResident Evil 3also did relatively well, as theResident Evilremakes are often cited as the gold standard for remakes
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It appears that all of this effort is paying off, as Capcom is currently expecting 2022 to be its tenth consecutive year of growth despite some early hiccups. As of June 30th, sales for Capcom are down 47.9%, with its operating income down 48.9%. However, Capcom attributed this to last year’s release ofResident Evil 8: Villageand its massive salesas the company has yet to release a major title release in the same period for 2022.
Despite this drop in sales, Capcom is currently expecting to make its full sales before the end of the fiscal year with a focus on major title releases as well as digital sales. The upcomingremake ofResident Evil 4is also expected to be released a week before the end of the 2022 fiscal year.Resident Evil 8’s DLCThe Winters Expansionalong with the game’s Gold Edition will likely boost the company’s overall 2022 revenue, keeping it on track for its tenth year of growth.
It’s difficult to view this particular news as anything but good at the moment. While companies likeActivision have seen workers form unionsdue to alleged poor working conditions, Capcom seems to have avoided these stories. In fact, the company has also said that it plans on prioritizing improving its workplace environment in order to help drive its goals. This also includes plans to raise the base salaries of its Japanese workers as part of a larger change to its human resources departments. Whether Capcom makes good on these promises or remains committed to them is another matter altogether.
