I think people are misreading the CoD part and assuming Kawata wants to turn RE into that, not what he really meant... He wants the CoD sales. But even CoD fans are getting tired of the same rehash over and over again. Modern Warfare 3 (Infinity Ward) didn't do nearly as well as Black Ops (Treyarch) because MW3 was the same shit as MW2. Fans catch on, but Capcom doesn't like to listen to the fans (example: that Mega Man fiasco).

I really think RE4 should have been a new IP instead of turning the series into something so different. They've proved they can continue survival horror in Revelations. As much as I want more RE, I would rather the series die than get more boulder punching lava rockets. I don't plan on picking up RE6 and I'm about done with the series. I don't think Capcom even knows what they're doing anymore in terms with RE, and sooner or later, they're just going to merge the movies and the games together because of the potential huge profit no matter how the fans feel.

I agree, the hybrid of survival horror/action in Revelations seemed to work decently; I mean it's no REmake, but it definitely wasn't like RE5. You still had some sense of atmosphere and claustrophobic horror.

As for RE6, I still have some hope, but I'm not expecting a return to what used to be or what could have been. If all else fails, we only have remnants of a story left to try and piece together before this whole ship falls apart. If the madness created by Anderson seeps into the main picture,(beyond the movies' influence of laser rooms and certain lab designs) everything that we've worked hard to understand goes right out the window.

Nah. Modern Warfare 3 still broke records, and it's done better than Black Ops on consoles, where it matters. Then take into account the number of DLC packs still left for this season of Call of Duty AND the number of ELITE subscriptions, and it's pretty evident that Call of Duty is stronger than ever.

You almost have it with Kawata there. He doesn't want Resident Evil to be an FPS like Call of Duty, and he doesn't want Resident Evil to sell 14.5m-18.5m - well, he and Capcom would love that, but that's not what he means. He wants Resident Evil to cut into the market share games like Call of Duty, Halo, and Grand Theft Auto currently occupy.

Example:

Battlefield at it's core wasn't like Call of Duty, but once EA put their foot in the door with titles like Crysis, Medal of Honor, and especially Bad Company, they then had the backing and opportunity to give DICE a go at the crown. In the end Modern Warfare 3 did it's thing as stated above, but Battlefield 3 managed to sell twice as much as Bad Company 2 and position itself among the top selling franchises. Mission accomplished.



*high-five*


I've seen some people on here and Project Umbrella mention the Amnesia example News Bot put forth, so I figure I'd weigh in on that.



The difference being that it was released for PC via Steam and at a reasonable/affordable price - $20. How well has it sold in retail? How well could it sell for a console?

Technically, yes, it was a success of sorts, and I'm quite glad it was. I like Amnesia - I haven't played Penumbra, look forward to it, but I heard that was pretty good aswell. It's not Resident Evil, though, and comparing the two is bordering inane.

If the fact that RE4 HD managed to be one of the top sellers last year on XBL and PSN (and won an award in the latter, and even though it was an average port) plus the earlier mentioned demand shown for RE2 and 3 on the PAL PSN, if Capcom made a smaller scale game for digital download that was like Revelations for $25 a pop, I think it would sell very well.

Amnesia is scary. You're pretty much helpless and can't defend yourself. However, I couldn't play it long because it gave me terrible motion sickness. Plus it does go on sale almost every single time Steam has a big sale, from $2.50-$5. I haven't played Penumbra yet... But a plus for Steam is all the indie titles you can find in category you want. I have Train Simulator 2012: Zombies vs. Trains still waiting to be played. As for consoles, I thought Amy was good and challenging, but I know it got slammed in most reviews.

I forgot about CoD Elite. Is that still around? I thought they were closing it, but that might have been the other CoD social media thing they were trying to do.

Releasing any kind of title digitally is a step back for a publisher and franchise series. It was only an HD remastered title thankfully.

Only when Capcom starts showing financial regrowth will they be given the leeway to bring a classic Resident Evil experience/game back to the fans. They're already moving in one direction; it's too late to do a 180 at this point.



Excellent point. I know I'm not the only one that only buys games off Steam during one of their insane sales. That's basically what makes Steam as successful as it is.

Yes, it is. My cousin and I had it before I gave him my account. It's a great service.

I totally disagree with that in this day and age. I think a lot of digital produts are beginning to outstrip physical ones and because it lowers the manufacting and distribution cost quite a lot many publishers are enjoying it, especially on the latter where previous distrubtion channels maybe quite complex.

It also depends on the product. While they were ports and of questionable quality look at the idea that in the "west" the RE HD titles were digital only. And as Mr. Spencer and I discussed the success of something like Bionic Commando Rearmed. If you make and market the product for the market then it'll be sellable. If you focus on making something good word will be out there and it'll be purchased even if it's DD only.

And I say all this and I actually hate digital downloads myself, I'm a big fan of physical copies (thats why I have a stupidly overfilled shelf at home).

Perhaps I should've been a little more specific, and you less literal. We are talking about Resident Evil, Capcom, and home consoles - not an indie title, an indie developer, and PC afterall.



Not on this planet they're not. Tell me what big name publishers are enjoying distributing their flag ship IP digitally over retail? Mass Effect 3 is one of the most recent titles to have been released both digitally and via retail on the same day - wanna take a guess which copy of the game completely outsold the other?

Here's an analogy: retail titles are to digital copies what films are to TV series.

In today's day and age there is disparity between the two still - not everyone has internet access, a credit card; not everyone feels comfortable not having a hard copy of a video game, music album, film, and so on, in their possession (which is in my case). Publishers will even go out of their way to distribute their DLC software through retail as a means of promotion and to significantly boost sales, ie. Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, or any GOTY Edition. It simply doesn't make business sense to take a AAA title/series and go completely digital. More of that after the next quote.

Yeah, because XBL and PSN are hassle free - but that's another matter altogether.



You're absolutely right: it does depend on the product.

Where was Bionic Commando before Bionic Commando Rearmed?

Where is Resident Evil now?

Bionic Commando Rearmed was successful; the sequel was shit and a failure, which beside the original developer going bankrupt further proved that it was a one-hit wonder capitalizing on the early wave of downloadable titles, but it sold pretty well non the less. There wasn't really a way to take a step back in it's case - or rather they had nothing to lose at that point.

Resident Evil on the other hand has a standard to uphold. It's not looking to sell 500,000 units, no, it's looking at that 10m mark with RE6. Do you understand the dilemma your original suggestion poses?

If you ask me, yeah, personally I'd want nothing more than to have a classic Resident Evil game by any means - even digitally. Then rationality kicks in and you can't escape the facts:

• Survival Horror as we knew it is pretty much dead - it is no longer seen as a profitable genre. The demand isn't great enough despite what many of us might think considering we're united on internet forums that don't represent the consensus of gamers everywhere (that includes casuals who are just as much paying customers as us).
• Capcom are dumb, but they're not suicidal dumb. Look at my previous post.
• $25 a pop for a new digital title would never sell on XBLM and the PS Store. It's an inconvenient number for the publisher from a production stand point and customers who don't have credit cards and need to buy pre-loaded cards. Look at Siren: The Blood Curse for example.

At the end of the day gaming isn't what it used to be. You can side with someone like Inafune, and preach about how Capcom aren't creative enough. You might just be right, but you'd still be a fan, and he'd still be an Art Director without a way of knowing how the industry and consumerism works.

Want my advice? physically do something about. You ever heard about that one Kickstarter thing? looks a good start.



Good for you. Me too.

Half you post was redundant, no offence.

I never was talking at all about Capcom releasing AAA titles as digital only for $25, I figured you may have worked that out when I was comparing it to titles like BCRearmed and HD ports of old titles. What I was talking about is Capcom developing a lower budgeted survival horror title in the Resident Evil franchise if the main AAA main releases are going to be action only that could then be a digital only download in the west.

The example of EA/Mass Effect is not great (as would be most AAA launch day titles at this stage) because the instore/online competition generally means physcial copies sell based on the general chance they're cheaper. Currently I think only Steam and Vita titles on PSN are marked at the start cheaper than the stated RRP of an instore copy and that still doesn't stop competition from dropping the price points well below that. But the point of when more digital downloads are cheaper than the retail copies will change that as it has with Steam.

I'm aware the XBL and PSN platforms have their drawbacks as well for distrubtion but you're not thinking globably about what I mean either. For all the PAL terriortories Capcom has at least 15 different companies (that I know of, could be more) to help get their product out across a huge number of countries, and each of those takes a cut on the money made. sometimes thats a sub-distribtion on already distrubuted product (like it is here where I am, where stock normally comes via Australian companies first).

Throughout Asia I believe is about another 4 or 5 or so as well. With the PSN/XBL or any other digital platform the cut is less and there is more profit in it for any company. It's direct to because they provide the file and set the overall price. Thats why the format in general pleases companies (along side the fact it cuts out the second hand sales issues, but thats another topic entirely).

I don't disagree that not everyone wants or can download digitally but to say at all that the gap is not closing daily is wrong, and when it comes to PC and Steam I'd say it's closed already. It's only time before consoles head that way too.

BC:R2 sold well because of goodwill from the success of the original (and thats a traditional thing across all media including other games and films and so forth) even if it was shit. But had the product been good further sequels would have happened because Capcom would run it into the ground as usual.

As for your final points;
1) Suvival Horror's success is debatable and so I can't disagree (but neither can agree). The Mega Man thing shows that fans aren't always there to back their comment. But the point is the strength of the brand name which can still make subpar titles like ORC sell tens of thousands of copies in the first few days. It's a double edged sword to me because it means they could sell a digital title on the strength of the brand as much as any store release as far as I'm concerned.

The perspective is needed that a AAA title wants 8-10 million, but a lower budget DD title might be only wanting 1 million. You make it sound as if a DD RE branded title would sully the brand. I hate to break it to you but I can't see that happen or Capcom see it that way if they did. Considering the lows it's already had.

I already said my piece about this, because if the quality is good then it'll have legs. And then it doesn't matter how it was distributed or how much it costs.

2) Still debatable about how dumb Capcom's decisions have been especially in the past five years more than any other. I agree that the company would keep away from complete disaster but they'd only be tracking that against the financial bottom line.

3) Covered above, if the quality is there it'll sell no matter the price. Hell even if the quality isnt as it's good as it should have been... as mentioned RE4 HD topped the sellers on both platforms even though I'd say most people who purchased it owned it prior.

And it cost $20.

And when you say Kickstarter, you mean make my own survival horror brand to replace RE? That was never my point either. All I'm saying is Capcom shouldn't be putting all their eggs in one basket on making the franchise all action only. Likewise I'm not asking them to make it all survival horror. I'd just like an open mind on trying to keep everything open.

TBH my estimation of you wasn't and still isn't that high, thus the added explanation, no offence.



Oh good, so you really were wasting your time all along with such a trivial idea. Glad we've come to that conclusion.



And the part where your rebuttal includes atleast one example of it's own is...



You don't say.



You mentioned something about redundancy earlier?



If you say so.



Did it now? barely past 15,000 across both consoles compared to what the original did - you've got one funny notion of 'selling well' then.



Considering the gap in sales figures between RE4 HD and RECVX HD it's hard to even call it 'debatable' on top of the comments recently made by Kawata, and the direction the genre has gone in since the turn of this console generation. Come now, it's dead.

It would hurt the brand along with Capcom.



Unfortunately quality doesn't always equal financial success. In this particular case we're talking about a genre that's been without legs for a while now.

I agree. Capcom have made some smart moves here and there, ie. siding with Nintendo and the 3DS this early on, albeit yet to shift a great amount of attention to the tablet platform. Overall though they're still not doing enough across the board to keep alot of their assets and intellectual properties afloat in the long run.



20 is a nice, round, reasonable number afterall. Resident Evil 4 was a coming of age title for many aswell.



Does it seem like you've at all given me the impression that you're capable of developing and marketing your own game? hahaha

An idea can lead to a discussion. A discussion can lead to a petition. A petition can lead to...oh you get the point. A Kickstarter at this point seems as plausible as Capcom keeping the faith.