"66% of Capcom doesn't think continuing SF is a good idea" - Ono interview

[Professor_Stoli]

You think SFIV cost anywhere near what RE5 did to develop? Was part of RE5’s dev cost offset by income from arcades? Was part of RE5’s dev cost offset by income made off periferials? Did Capcom make money off the downloadable costumes in RE5?

Mind cluing everyone in on what patch/re-release version of RE5 is guaranteed to bring in another boat load of money for Capcom?

Basic fucking economics hey…

First of all, SF4 is basically a new game. It’s not just a rehashed HD version, it’s a new game, with new models, new coding, new graphics, new physics, and a ton of new expenses. It wasn’t as cheap as you think it was to develop.

MadCatz made the peripherals, not Capcom, so no, there wasn’t too much to gain off controllers and such.

Arcade units cost thousands of dollars to produce and sell. Which barely any arcades exist in the USA and if they do, not all have SF4 cabinets.

Not everyone purchased the costumes.

And yes, I believe another Resident Evil game will bring in a lot of money, as RE1-5 have, why not 6? They keep making them, and they keep selling well.

SF4, which sold good, did not sell great. There is a strong culture and following, as is shown by these forums, but this isn’t anything compared to the main stream gamers that would purchase RE games over SF4. How do I know this? Look at the sales charts.

So yes, basic economics, overall sales of SF4 are diminutive than RE sales, so this is why (I could be wrong) that Capcom would consider not following up with another SF4 game, compared to creating a new RE game.

But to remind you, I am not against you, I actually purchased SF4 and not RE. My theory just makes more sense to yours.

[System_1]

I didn’t want to believe this until I went to the Ryu forum and people were asking for fake fireball, juggle with normal hadouken, and more invincibility on SRK.

you have got to be fucking kiddin me…

[SimpleKiss]

Resident Evil 5 kind of let me down. I actually liked Dead Space more.

[Halvie]

First of all, SF4 is basically a new game. It’s not just a rehashed HD version, it’s a new game, with new models, new coding, new graphics, new physics, and a ton of new expenses. It wasn’t as cheap as you think it was to develop.

MadCatz made the peripherals, not Capcom, so no, there wasn’t too much to gain off controllers and such.

Arcade units cost thousands of dollars to produce and sell. Which barely any arcades exist in the USA and if they do, not all have SF4 cabinets.

Not everyone purchased the costumes.

And yes, I believe another Resident Evil game will bring in a lot of money, as RE1-5 have, why not 6? They keep making them, and they keep selling well.

SF4, which sold good, did not sell great. There is a strong culture and following, as is shown by these forums, but this isn’t anything compared to the main stream gamers that would purchase RE games over SF4. How do I know this? Look at the sales charts.

So yes, basic economics, overall sales of SF4 are diminutive than RE sales, so this is why (I could be wrong) that Capcom would consider not following up with another SF4 game, compared to creating a new RE game.

But to remind you, I am not against you, I actually purchased SF4 and not RE. My theory just makes more sense to yours.

No point in arguing with morons. I didn’t realize that SFIV had new coding, or that not every person who bought SFIV also bought the dlc. Your “theory” is simply amazing.

[Halvie]

Let’s just assume an arcade with a SFIV cab gets 6 continuous hours of play a day. One match takes about 3 minutes, and costs $1. So that’s roughly about $20 an hour, or $120 a day. Again, Viewlix cabs are REALLY FREAKING EXPENSIVE, and remember the Japanese setup - you need TWO cabs to make that $1. So it not like Capcom released the arcade version and then just started raking in the profit - it took several months before they even broke even on it.

I’m not sure if this is more of Capcom’s problem, or arcade owners problems (since its the arcades who buy the cabs from Capcom), but money is a factor.

Yep the cabs are expensive, but I still fail to see how Capcom didn’t benefit from an arcade release…

Anyone have a clue how many arcade units sold in Japan/the world? Would 1k be too high?

Well assuming that the number is around 1k sold, and the cost of the cab and hardware is around 10-12k, you see 10-12m gross. Even if half that is profit that is still 5-6m to offset development costs. Doesn’t the average blockbuster this gen average out to 20-30 million? That is a pretty decent chunk isn’t it?

And that’s just thinking about the price of the cabs. I didn’t even factor in development, production, testing, etc.

Umm you aren’t insinuating that money that went into developing the arcade version didn’t offset console development costs are you…

[sakeido]

I seriously doubt there are 1,000 SF4 arcade machines. I’d guess there is less than 200. 50% profit margin would be pretty high as well… also, there would be some units that sold without the matching cabinet, so those probably have smaller margin.

The game shipped 2 million copies for consoles. That’s not bad, it would have been sequel-worthy a few years ago.

[RaidenthaShocka]

I could see how the employees wouldn’t want to make more sf from an artistic standpoint. Most artists don’t want to keep painting the same picture over and over with different backgrounds. What I can’t really get is why they were even asked if it was a good idea to continue with Street Fighter. No offence but did anyone ask Ted Kotcheff (directed Rambo)if he thought continuing Rambo sequels was a good idea? No! They were like “fuck you Ted, go direct Weekend at Burnie’s” while they went on to make Rambo XVI. amirite?

[System_1]

This is a horrible, awful analogy.

Defending a fortified structure is MUCH easier than overtaking one. If you had the first clue about the tactics of war, or any knowledge of military strategy, you would realize how wrong you are.

In the Dark and Middle ages, many castle sieges only ended when the invaders cut off the water and food supply from the OUTSIDE, because it was literally impossible to get past the defenses of a structure that was purpose built to keep people out.

Utilizing the advantages of a structure like a well built castle, many times in history a small group of people have defended themselves against a MUCH larger invading force.

I’m sorry for this post being a tangent, but I could not let your horrific post slide.

I HIGHLY recommend that you take a history course.

Lol.

That’s okay, Para - just write it off as a Sagat analogy. :china:

[Exia_00]

Well, at least it gives the newcomers (like myself) some time to develop and gain experience. :tup:

But still, it’s not fair to the people that have more experience and want something new.

[pherai]

But still, it’s not fair to the people that have more experience and want something new.

Huh? Where does fair come in to the equation? Capcom doesn’t owe anybody anything.

[Exia_00]

Huh? Where does fair come in to the equation? Capcom doesn’t owe anybody anything.

Yeah, I agree 100%. What I meant was what I said about newcomers wouldn’t be a good enough argument to justify the decision they made. It’s most likely not the reason anyways lol

Sorry for the confusion :shy:

[The_Lone_Dragon]

So yes, basic economics, overall sales of SF4 are diminutive than RE sales, so this is why (I could be wrong) that Capcom would consider not following up with another SF4 game, compared to creating a new RE game.

RE5 sold 5 million, SF4 sold 2.5 million.

RE has sold 34.5 million copies overall. SF has sold 25 million copies overall.

“Diminutive” is not the right word. RE outsold SF? Yes. RE destroyed SF? Not at all.

And, last I checked, SF4 outsold the most recent DMC game (assuming the numbers are correct).

Lol at people thinking SF4 only did “alright”. Not every game has to sell 8 million Halo-esque copies to be considered “profitable”.

[Mooglesniperz]

imagine if Kaizo Mario was an actual retail game if you thought Super Mario Bros. was hard… oh man

[Rsnake91]

you have got to be fucking kiddin me…

hes not. ppl are bitching bout it in the Ryu forum. in the thread called “Ryu in the next/sequal update”

[ilitirit]

You can’t compare RE to SFIV because of Arcade profits. Not to mention extra-game (anime/hardware/figurine/movie etc) tie ins.

[Azrael]

I’m kind of on the fence about the viewlix cab point. When I was visiting Tokyo, only like half the arcades I visited that had SF4 had them on viewlix cabs, and they were all very prominent spots like mikado, big box and game versus. I don’t see why the less well known, hole in the wall type spots couldn’t just put them on regular cabs.

Yeah, there are some places here in Kansai as well that don’t have Viewlix, or they have a mix. Avion in Osaka (where the game loketested) started with 4 Viewlix and 2 “ghetto” cabs. Most players avoided the ghetto cabs as if they were the plague though. Avion eventually had to put it in a better cab (I think they gutted a Tekken cab), but its still a little weird compared to the regular Viewlix. Also, a Taito Station opened literally just across the street, and it has 8 Viewlix so that might have put pressure on Avion.

I think players prefer the Viewlix, and if an arcade doesn’t get one it runs the risk of having the players just go somewhere else to play it. Unless the arcade has some other point which will bring players in (established comp, location, half-price play or something…).

Yep the cabs are expensive, but I still fail to see how Capcom didn’t benefit from an arcade release…

I’m not saying they didn’t eventually benefit. It just seems like a lot of people (not saying you specifically) will point out the arcade and extras or whatever as some sort of magic money-maker for Capcom, without considering that it took a while for Capcom to break even on it.

Given that, and that the arcade game has barely been out for a year, its understandable that Capcom wouldn’t want to rush to do it again so quickly. It would be unfair to compare SFIV to the rapid revisions SFII got (sometimes within a year) because the scene was so radically different back then.

If SFIV is making profits now (probably?) it would be wise from a business standpoint to let it continue to make profits for as long as possible, and then introduce a new game when that profit well dried up. Now is just kinda too soon.

They also risk alienating the player base who would think “I JUST bought this game and now you want me to buy a revision? Fuck that!” Remember that Capcom’s constant revisions of SFII wasn’t thought of as a good thing. They were just “the company that can’t count to 3.”

[The_Mullah]

I think youre wrong Az, 15 more days until the next version is officially anounced imo. although i’d be almost as happy if ono announced a lobbies patch for online.

[System_1]

I think youre wrong Az, 15 more days until the next version is officially anounced imo. although i’d be almost as happy if ono announced a lobbies patch for online.

Word.

[dirtybanana]

This is a horrible, awful analogy.

Defending a fortified structure is MUCH easier than overtaking one. If you had the first clue about the tactics of war, or any knowledge of military strategy, you would realize how wrong you are.

In the Dark and Middle ages, many castle sieges only ended when the invaders cut off the water and food supply from the OUTSIDE, because it was literally impossible to get past the defenses of a structure that was purpose built to keep people out.

Utilizing the advantages of a structure like a well built castle, many times in history a small group of people have defended themselves against a MUCH larger invading force.

I’m sorry for this post being a tangent, but I could not let your horrific post slide.

I HIGHLY recommend that you take a history course.

officially the nerdiest post i have read!..no offence

[Azrael]

I think youre wrong Az, 15 more days until the next version is officially anounced imo. although i’d be almost as happy if ono announced a lobbies patch for online.

Why 15 days?

I know what’s on the rumor mill, and I wouldn’t be surprised if something did get announced.

I just don’t think its necessary. The game is fine as-is - take whatever adjustments we want made and put that towards a sequel in another year or two.

But we’ll see I guess.