These days, the biggest and arguable the greatest video gaming experiences are found in Europe and Americas, a polar shift from the trends of perhaps the previous and undoubtedly the generation before that. From the Final Fantasy and Sonic series to even Resident Evil, the Japanese companies brought some of the best gaming experiences around. But with English and American developers breaking out the blockbuster hits, it should come to no surprise that the Japanese developer community is suffering in the profit department.
Developers of the currently “Move“-ing Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition, Capcom is one of the Japanese publishers suffering severely economically. Numerically, video game sales were down 30% in 2010 in comparison to the previous year whereas Capcom’s arcade business saw about a 18% drop in income. Net income, that is profit gained after expenses, saw a drastic decrease showing a 73.1% decline since 2009.
“This fiscal year, Capcom recorded the first declines in sales and profits in four year. The strategic postponement of main title sales and the drastic overhaul of poorly performing businesses were the two main factors underlying the decline in sales and profits… Capcom takes the decline in sales and profits very seriously.”
Possible reasons for the decline include the most obvious one being that, beside RE5: Gold Edition and Monster Hunter for the competing Nintendo platform, Capcom did not release anything that would generate a substantial amount of profit. Hopefully, with just one bad year, the company should not have to force themselves to downsize or even shut entire divisions down but, without creating interest with their new games, this economy will definitely place a negative effect on the publisher.
[Source]
