Capcom Co., Ltd.

Capcom Co., Ltd. is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. It has created a number of multi-million-selling game franchises, the most commercially successful of which are Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, Mega Man, Devil May Cry, Dead Rising, Marvel vs. Capcom and Ace Attorney. Mega Man himself is the official mascot of the company. Founded in 1979, it has become an international enterprise with subsidiaries in East Asia (Hong Kong), Europe (London, England) and North America (San Francisco, California).

Story

Capcom's predecessor, IRM Corporation, was founded on May 30, 1979 by Kenzo Tsujimoto, who was still president of Irem Corporation when he founded IRM. He worked simultaneously in both companies until he left the first in 1983.

The original companies that gave birth to Capcom Japan were IRM and its subsidiary Japan Capsule Computers Co., Ltd., both of which were involved in the production and distribution of electronic gaming machines. In September 1981, the name of the two companies was changed to Sanbi Co., Ltd. On June 11, 1983, Tsujimoto established Capcom Co., Ltd. to take over the management of the internal sales department.

In January 1989, Capcom Co., Ltd. merged with Sanbi Co., Ltd., resulting in the formation of the current subsidiary in Japan. The name Capcom is an abbreviation for "Capsule Computers", a term the company coined for the arcade machines it produced exclusively in its early years, intended to differentiate itself from the personal computers that were becoming widespread. "Capsule" alludes to Capcom's comparison of its gaming software to a "capsule filled to the brim with gaming fun," as well as the company's desire to protect its intellectual property with a tough outer shell that prevents illegal copies and poor-quality imitations.

Capcom's first product was the coin-operated arcade game Little League (1983). It released its first true arcade video game, Vulgus (May 1984). Starting with the arcade hit 1942 (1984), they began developing games with international markets in mind. The successful 1985 arcade games Commando and Ghosts 'n Goblins were recognized as the products "that put 8-bit silicon on the map" in the mid-1980s. Beginning with Commando (late 1985), Capcom began licensing its arcade games for release on home computers, particularly to British software companies Elite Systems and US Gold in the late 1980s.

Beginning with the 1942 Nintendo Entertainment System port (published in December 1985), the company entered the home console video game market, which eventually became its core business. Capcom USA briefly published video games for the Commodore 64 and IBM PC DOS in the late 1980s, although other companies developed these arcade ports. Capcom has created 15 multimillion-dollar home video game franchises, the best-selling of which was Resident Evil (1996). Their most profitable fighting game is Street Fighter II (1991), largely due to its success in the arcades.

Capcom was noted as the last major publisher to devote itself to 2D games, although this was not entirely by choice. The company's commitment to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as their platform of choice resulted in them falling behind other leading publishers in developing 3D-capable arcade boards. Additionally, the 2D cartoon-style animations seen in games such as Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors and X-Men: Children of the Atom have proven popular, prompting Capcom to adopt them as a signature style and use them in greater numbers games.

In 1990, Capcom entered the bowling industry with Bowlingo. It was a coin operated, electromechanical, fully automated mini ten pin bowling machine. It was smaller than a standard bowling alley and was designed to be smaller and less expensive for slot machines. Upon its release in 1990, Bowlingo generated significant profits in North America.

In 1994, Capcom adapted its Street Fighter series of fighting games into a film of the same name. Despite its commercial success, it was criticized. The 2002 Resident Evil TV series adaptation faced similar criticism but was also a success in theaters. The company sees movies as a way to boost sales of its video games.

Capcom partnered with Nyu Media in 2011 to publish and distribute independent Japanese games (dōjin software), which Nyu localized into English. The company is working with Polish localization company QLOC to port Capcom games to other platforms; particularly examples are the PC version of DmC: Devil May Cry and its remasters for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the PC version of Dragon's Dogma, and the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC version of Dead Rising.

In 2012, Capcom was criticized for controversial sales tactics such as the implementation of disc-locked content, which requires players to pay for additional content that is already available in the game files, especially in Street Fighter X Tekken. The company defended the practice. He was also criticized for other business decisions, such as not releasing certain games outside of Japan (most notably the Sengoku Basara series), abruptly canceling anticipated projects (most notably Mega Man Legends 3), and closing Clover Studio.

On August 27, 2014, Capcom filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Koei Tecmo Games in the Osaka District Court for damages of 980 million yen. Capcom claimed that Koei Tecmo infringed a patent it received in 2002 regarding a gaming feature in video games.

On November 2, 2020, the company reported that its servers were infected with ransomware that encrypted its data, and the attackers, the hacker group Ragnar Locker, allegedly stole 1 TB of sensitive corporate data and blackmailed Capcom into paying them to remove the ransomware. . By mid-November, the group began posting information online about the hack, which included contact information for up to 350,000 of the company's employees and partners, as well as plans for upcoming games, indicating that Capcom had decided not to pay the group. Capcom confirmed that no credit card information or other sensitive financial information was obtained in the hack.

In June 2021, artist and writer Judy A. Juracek filed a lawsuit against Capcom for copyright infringement. She alleged in court papers that Capcom used images from her 1996 book "Surfaces" in its covers and other materials for Resident Evil 4, Devil May Cry and other games. This was discovered in a 2020 Capcom data leak where several files and images match those included in the book's accompanying CD. Court documents note that one image file of a metal surface, named ME0009 in Capcom's files, has the exact same name on the book's CD. Yurachek sought more than $12 million in damages and between $2,500 and $25,000 in false copyright administration for each photograph used by Capcom. Before a trial date could be set, the case was settled "amicably" in February 2022.

In February 2022, Bloomberg reported that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund had acquired a 5% stake in Capcom for approximately US$332 million.

Organizational structure

Development studios

In its first few years, Capcom Japan had three development teams called "Planning Rooms", led by Tokuro Fujiwara, Takashi Nishiyama, and Yoshiki Okamoto. Later, games developed internally were created by several numbered "Production Studios", each assigned to a different game. Beginning in 2002, the development process was reformed to better share technology and expertise, and individual studios were gradually reorganized into larger departments responsible for different tasks. While there are autonomous departments for arcade, pachinko and pachislo, online games, and mobile games, the consumer games R&D department is an amalgamation of departments responsible for the game development phases.

Capcom has three internal consumer game development divisions:

• Division 1, led by Jun Takeuchi, with Resident Evil, Mega Man, Devil May Cry, Dead Rising and other major franchises (usually targeting a global audience).
• Division 2, led by Ryozo Tsujimoto (who also heads the mobile online application development division) with Monster Hunter, Ace Attorney, Onimusha, Sengoku Basara and other franchises with more traditional IPs (usually targeting audiences in Asia).
• Division 3 with Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, Lost Planet, Dragon's Dogma and other online franchises (games focused on online multiplayer and/or tournaments).

In addition to these teams, Capcom hires third-party development studios to ensure stable game releases. However, due to poor sales of Dark Void and Bionic Commando, its management decided to limit outsourcing to sequels and new versions of parts of existing franchises, leaving the development of original games to its internal teams. Game production, budgets and platform support are decided at development approval meetings, which are attended by company management and the marketing, sales and quality control departments.

Branches and subsidiaries

Headquarters Capcom Co., Ltd. and the R&D department building are located in Chuo-ku, Osaka. The parent company also has a branch in the Shinjuku Mitsui Building in Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo; and Ueno Facility, branch in Ige, Mie Prefecture.

The international Capcom group includes 15 subsidiaries in Japan, the rest of East Asia, North America and Europe. Affiliated companies include Koko Capcom Co., Ltd. in South Korea, Street Fighter Film, LLC in the USA and Dellgamadas Co., Ltd.

Gaming related media

In addition to home, online, mobile, arcade, pachinko, and pachislo games, Capcom publishes strategy guides; operates its own Plaza Capcom gaming centers in Japan; and licenses its franchise and character properties for spin-off products, films, television series and stage shows.

Suleputer, an in-house marketing and music label created in partnership with Sony Music Entertainment Intermedia in 1998, publishes CDs, DVDs and other media based on Capcom games. Captivate (renamed Gamers Day in 2008), an annual private media summit, is traditionally used to announce new games and businesses.

Games

Capcom started its Street Fighter franchise in 1987. The fighting game series is one of the most popular in its genre. It has sold nearly 50 million copies and is one of Capcom's flagship franchises. The company also introduced its Mega Man series in 1987, which sold nearly 40 million copies.

In 1996, the company released the first installment of its survival horror series Resident Evil, which became the most successful gaming series, selling over 100 million copies. With the release of the second installment in the Resident Evil series, Capcom launched the Resident Evil game for the PlayStation 2. Since it was significantly different from the games in the existing series, Capcom decided to turn it into its own Devil May Cry series. The first three entries were exclusive to the PlayStation 2; further entries were released for non-Sony consoles. The entire series has sold over 20 million copies. Capcom began its Monster Hunter series in 2004 and has sold over 70 million copies across various consoles.

While the company often uses existing franchises, it has also published and developed several games for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii based on original intellectual property: Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, Dead Rising, Dragon's Dogma, Asura's Wrath and Zack and Wiki. . During this period, Capcom also helped publish several original games from up-and-coming Western developers, including Remember Me, Dark Void, and Spyborgs, which other publishers were reluctant to take on. Other notable titles include Ōkami, Ōkamiden, and Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective.

In 2015, the PlayStation 4 version of Ultra Street Fighter IV was pulled from the Capcom Pro Tour due to numerous technical issues and bugs. In 2016, Capcom released Street Fighter V with very limited single-player content. At launch, there were problems with the game's network stability, causing players to boot mid-game even if they weren't playing online. In March 2016, Street Fighter V failed to reach its sales goal of 2 million copies.

Platinum titles

Capcom compiles a quarterly updated list of "Platinum Games" from its games that have sold over a million copies. It contains more than 100 video games. This table shows the top ten titles by number of copies sold as of June 30, 2022.