[Industry] Capcom Details Next-Gen Strategy

[.:|Physalis|:.]

LINK


Capcom's head of corporate strategy has outlined how using the same game engine more than once is important to keeping costs down, as well as the company's multiplatform development plans and the firm's knack for success.

ImageSpeaking to Bloomberg in Tokyo, Capcom's Kazuhiko Abe said that using the same engine across multiple games is one of the key strategies in surviving the expensive next generation development environment.

"The development costs rise every time you make games for new consoles, because there is a lot to learn," he said. "Once a game has been made for a specific platform, you'll have a game engine: a fighting engine, adventure engine, action engine. Using the completed engine helps lower the cost of developing new titles [by as much as 30 to 40 percent]."

Abe also said that 1 billion yen ($8.6 million) is the "minimum you need to spend if you want to make a decent game."

He further elaborated on how Capcom may maximize earnings by porting games to different platforms. "The costs have risen, so the question is how to recover them best," Abe said. "Even if the costs double, we now have three platforms for which to make content. We are also making games for PC which can be easily converted into Xbox games. Games for the Wii, which is a little bit different from other consoles, can be used in the amusement business, [such as in game arcades]."

Also on the subject of Capcom ports, last month, a Japanese NikkoCitiGroup analyst speculated that if Xbox 360 titles from Capcom experienced "healthy sales," currently PlayStation 3-exclusive titles could migrate to Microsoft's machine.

According to Abe, Capcom expects to sell one million units worldwide of the upcoming Lost Planet for Xbox 360, which is expected to release in January in the US. He added, "We have been continuously making million-selling titles for new game platforms. Not many companies can do it. It's the know-how we've accumulated over the years."

Capcom's Dead Rising, released August 8 for Xbox 360, met with good reviews, and had shipped 500,000 units in its first two weeks of availability.

The Bloomberg report added that Capcom plans to sell "150,000 games for the PlayStation 3 this fiscal year, compared with 1.85 million units for Xbox 360."