Darkstalkers Resurrection Sales "Disappoint" Capcom

[Andy Chalk]

Darkstalkers Resurrection Sales "Disappoint" Capcom

Darkstalkers Resurrection was among the top ten PlayStation Network best-sellers last month but it's still a failure in the eyes of Capcom.

Released in mid-March, the 2D fighting game Darkstalkers Resurrection managed to muscle its way to seventh place on the PSN Top Sellers list [http://blog.us.playstation.com/2013/04/08/march-2013-psn-top-sellers/], just behind BioShock Infinite and ahead of Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Decade Duels Plus and Black Ops 2. That seems like a pretty respectable showing to me, especially since it only had about half the month to work with, but to Capcom it's apparently a letdown.

"Sadly, it's not as high on that list as it really needs to be to be successful. We're working on promotions and the like to improve the situation. We've not given up," Capcom Senior Vice President Christian Svensson said in a message posted in the "Ask Capcom" forum. "But I'm disappointed in the opening sales response relative to any other fighting title we've put out on the same platforms given the frequency and urgency of requests we've had here over the last several years and the quality of the execution."

The problem, it seems, is not with the game, which has received solid reviews, but simply that Capcom expected too much from it because of all that "frequency and urgency of requests" business. "I'm not blaming fans who did buy it and supported the brand. I'm very thankful for those guys (thank you, to all of you)," Svensson wrote. "I'm more disappointed by my misread of the information in this particular case."

Svennson said last week [http://www.capcom-unity.com/ask_capcom/go/thread/view/7371/29840911/capcom-should-talk-to-snk-sega-and-ea?pg=1&&num=23] that Capcom had "probably run the course" with updates of games like Darkstalkers, adding, "It seems the novelty of such projects is wearing off even within just the fighting game community based upon the sales data of our last two launches." And so it is that a top-ten-selling game, on the basis of less than a full month of sales, can be considered a failure and perhaps even herald the end of a franchise. What strange business this is.

Source: Capcom [http://www.capcom-unity.com/ask_capcom/go/thread/view/7371/29852457/hey-darkstalkers-one-of-the-best-selling-psn-gameswhat-gives?post_num=11#531169161]


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[Legion]

Sky-High expectations seem to be one of the largest causes of disappointment in the industry right now. Perhaps they ought to try being a little bit more realistic. The global economy is still in pieces after all.

Fighting game do have a core audience, but expecting a re-make of older games to beat something like Bioshock Infinite is expecting far too much.

 

[TheProfessor234]

I still want to know, are companies losing money or are the people in the suits just hard to please?

Is the word, "successful," being defined as dropping a new game very year and having five million people buy it each time?

 

[R.Nevermore]

Lower your damn expectations and budget, game companies... This trend of 'disappointing sales' is going to kill you if you don't adapt!

 

[Hazzard]

So a barely known 2d fighter is released and they are surprsied when it doesn't sell 5 million copies over other well known francises?
I didn't even know a new Darkstalkers game had been released.

 

[geizr]

These expectations of game companies are starting to sound like "We need to sell to every gamer on the planet in order for this title to be a success". Naturally, this is a ridiculous hyperbole of the actual situation, but I'm making it to illustrate the point that the expectations are disconnected from the realities of the market's ability to purchase triple-A games (in the density of releases and at the price point that publishers are asking) and the overall percentage of the market that is interested in a particular game.

ADDENDUM: this is especially jarring when one contrasts that back in the early days of gaming, like mid-80s to mid-90s, selling 1 million copies of a game was an astounding, world-shattering success (hell, just selling 100 000 copies was a major success). Now, selling anything less than exactly 5 million copies is disappointing and grounds for devaluing company stock. It's just absurd.

 

[josemlopes]

Im curious to know how much money they used to make this game and how much money they got since launch. I bet they made profit but since now publishers can only call profit when the game sells the same as COD they come with these bullshit excuses to kill a franchise.

 

[JarinArenos]

- Release game with no promotion or publicity

- Blame customers for not buying enough

(Scumbag Capcom)

 

[Dr.Awkward]

Fighting games are a niche, Capcom. You're not going to reach millions of sales, especially for a game that is essentially a re-release of a previous game, and doesn't come in cabinet form.

Here's a tip: don't have expectations. Maybe you'll be more surprised this way?

 

[fix-the-spade]

I still want to know, are companies losing money or are the people in the suits just hard to please?

Both. Games are costing so much (relative to a decade ago) that a couple of million sales may not cover the development and marketing costs once the tax man and distributors have taken their cut. Profits are getting to be razor thin even for EA and Activision (last year EA made $76million from $4billion in sales).

At the same time suits engage in constant willy waving to justify their strategy and bonuses to the share holders, which leaves them with egg on their face when whatever it is doesn't sell the absurdly huge numbers they confidently predicted a few months before.

It's kind of odd that chart toppers and multi million sellers aren't good enough anymore, not healthy either.

 

[Uratoh]

SO...if rereleases of old games arent worth it, and megaman's not worth it...

what *IS* capcom making these days? seriously? I'm not being sarcastic here @_@

 

[Quiotu]

Here's an idea Capcom. Bring out a game that people actually wanted.

How'd Okami HD turn out? Oh that's right, it was in the top 10 downloaded list for like 4 months straight. People wanted that. Hell, even Sly 4 broke the top 5 in downloads the month it came out, and it had ZERO marketing from Sony.

Check and see if people want an HD rehash of Darkstalkers, then see if it can compete with the likes of MvC or P4A or hell even SkullGirls. You're throwing out a cash grab during a time when the 2D vs fighting game market is VERY saturated. Get people's attention, or don't be surprised when people ignore it.

 

[Zombie_Moogle]

I still want to know, are companies losing money or are the people in the suits just hard to please?

Both. Games are costing so much (relative to a decade ago) that a couple of million sales may not cover the development and marketing costs once the tax man and distributors have taken their cut. Profits are getting to be razor thin even for EA and Activision (last year EA made $76million from $4billion in sales).

At the same time suits engage in constant willy waving to justify their strategy and bonuses to the share holders, which leaves them with egg on their face when whatever it is doesn't sell the absurdly huge numbers they confidently predicted a few months before.

It's kind of odd that chart toppers and multi million sellers aren't good enough anymore, not healthy either.

All very true, typically, but this was an HD Darkstalkers compilation. Not to sound dismissive of the challenges of game developement, but how much could this have possibly cost? It's not like they went the Street Fight 4 route & redesigned it from the ground up; they slapped some slightly prettier textures on a 20 year old game & re-released it;

No, actually they re-re-released it, cuz they put out a very similar compilation on the PSP a couple years back, so we know they already had the majority of the code written up.

I... ugh, the mind boggles at how 7th Highest Seller is a failure to them, particularly with this game!

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

Maybe if Capcom didn't release multiple versions of every fighter they've made, an HD re-release would mean something.

 

[Fappy]

Got to love Capcom. They're almost as incompetent as Square these days... maybe more so.

 

[Weaver]

How much could this have possibly cost to make? It's just two darkstalkers game they jammed into a virtual (and crappy looking) arcade cabinet. The game was practically finished upon its inception. I'm also not seeing this "HD Art" they're boasting about unless the darkstalkers games look way worse than I'm remembering them.

They did add multiplayer though.

 

[bafrali]

Wow! All the past disapointments are catching up to Capcom. I am pleased.

 

[Username Redacted]

So a barely known 2d fighter is released and they are surprsied when it doesn't sell 5 million copies over other well known francises?
I didn't even know a new Darkstalkers game had been released.

I wouldn't call it barely known more like really old. It's not a new game. Rather it's an HD re-release of two older titles in the series. The fact that they bundled two games together was a decision I found generally confusing. It's also nice to know that Capcom is as disappointed in themselves as I am in them. I'm glad that the fact that they where trying to hold the development of future titles in this series hostage based on sales of this title blew up in their face. And lastly Christian Svensson can go fuck himself.