Capcom Suffers Layoffs

[Andy Chalk]

Capcom Suffers Layoffs

Capcom Senior Vice President Christan Svensson has announced that he is no longer with the company, which is laying off an unspecified number of people as part of a reorganization.

In a message posted on his Facebook page, Svensson, perhaps the most visible figure at Japanese publisher Capcom, revealed that he has left the company. "While it comes as something of a relief, today is bittersweet. After nearly eight years, it is my final day at Capcom," he wrote.

"This departure is not a bad thing for me and it's happening mostly because I'd suggested it during the early planning for today's reorg," he continued. "While I wish the company the best of luck, Capcom is going in a different direction and the need for people at my level, relative to other areas, is lacking. Those who know me well, know that I've been ready to go for quite some time."

Unfortunately, Svensson's voluntary departure is accompanied by an unspecified number of involuntary cuts. "Sadly, I'm not the only one affected by the reorganization today. Over the next few days, I'll be gathering resumes from as many as I can and will be sending them out to my contacts around the industry to see if there's a 'love connection' to be made," he wrote. "At the same time, if your company is hiring in one of these areas, please let me know via FB message; doing so might save some time for all concerned."

As for the future, Svensson said he's got a few possibilities lined up with a "level of authority [that] will be more in-line with the levels of responsibility" he's had over the past several years.

Source: GamesIndustry [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-07-11-capcom-reorganization-underway-christian-svensson-departs]




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[CrazyCapnMorgan]

I agree with Svensson's assessment in that Capcom is going in a different direction than he is:

Straight off of a cliff.

 

[Fappy]

Condolences to everyone who lost their jobs, but from the sounds of it Capcom was in real need of a reorg. Though, I imagine it probably should have happened a couple years ago.

 

[ShirowShirow]

Good to see he's looking out for the people affected by this.

I kinda saw this though. I mean, Capcom's been slamming into wall after wall lately.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

it'll be interesting to see what these changes entail. CAPCOM have been trying to emulate Western publishers and that's not the best direction for them. Heck, even Western pubs have been having issues because of the way they're managing themselves.

 

[dragongit]

Here is the financial solution to Capcom.

Step One: Release some new Megaman games. (specifically Megaman Legends 3)

Step Two: profit.

 

[Ryan Hughes]

Problem: Spending too much money on marketing stunts like renting out a butcher for Resident Evil 6, and bloated administration and development costs.

Solution: Reduce development costs, use marketing dollars intelligently, and engage disgruntled fan bases by making new Mega Man, Breath of Fire, and Okami games.

Capsom's Action: Lay off more people, because that really helped when we got rid of Clover studios, Shinji Mikami, and made Keiji Inafune leave and drove Yoshinori Ono into the hospital!

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Capsom's Action: Lay off more people, because that really helped when we got rid of Clover studios, Shinji Mikami, and made Keiji Inafune leave and drove Yoshinori Ono into the hospital!

Actually Inafune left because CAPCOM wouldn't be more ashamed of being Japanese. Though considering his contributions aside from his producing credits were very few I wouldn't hold him in such high regard.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Jesus, what a dumb move. How about you stop outsourcing games and trying to make them more like generic western shit that we already have in abundance? Gaming industry doesn't fuckin' work like that.

 

[Roxas1359]

Here is the financial solution to Capcom.

Step One: Release some new Megaman games. (specifically Megaman Legends 3)

Step Two: profit.

Agreed. Even worse is that Inafune and someone else offered to finish the game with their company because they didn't want to see Legends 3 cancelled, but Capcom told them no. Next Megaman thing we got was Fat Megaman...>.>

OT: Honestly Capcom needs a restructure really badly because they have been making mistake after mistake and seem to just love pissing off their fans, mainly Megaman ones.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Agreed. Even worse is that Inafune and someone else offered to finish the game with their company because they didn't want to see Legends 3 cancelled, but Capcom told them no. Next Megaman thing we got was Fat Megaman...>.>

Problem is that Inafune got the order of that all mixed up. You leave AFTER Mega Man Legends 3 is finished, not turn in your resume and STILL try to have your cake and eat it. Inafune basically threw a tantrum and expected people to take him seriously, so a LOT of that is on him. And Beer Belly Mega Man was approved by Inafune anyway.

 

[Therumancer]

Capcom being in trouble doesn't surprise me. I just hope that if the company crashes it's various IPs go to some decent homes as they have some really awesome stuff. As odd as it sounds the best things (in my opinion) involving Capcom have largely been crossover projects. On a lot of levels I think their characters might do better without them nowadays.

 

[Ryan Hughes]

Capsom's Action: Lay off more people, because that really helped when we got rid of Clover studios, Shinji Mikami, and made Keiji Inafune leave and drove Yoshinori Ono into the hospital!

Actually Inafune left because CAPCOM wouldn't be more ashamed of being Japanese. Though considering his contributions aside from his producing credits were very few I wouldn't hold him in such high regard.

Maybe, but the guy had an eye for talent. Who do you think got Shinji Mikami, Suda 51, and Hideki Kamiya their jobs and/or helped them get their games funded and released? Inafune is a strange guy, but his contribution to Capcom is undeniable.

 

[RaikuFA]

Condolonces to those who lost their jobs. Lets hope Capcom starts going in the right direction now.

 

[GAunderrated]

Capcom has nearly killed all the franchises I once cared about. I wont shed a tear for them going bankrupt if they continue with their stupidity.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Maybe, but the guy had an eye for talent. Who do you think got Shinji Mikami, Suda 51, and Hideki Kamiya their jobs and/or helped them get their games funded and released? Inafune is a strange guy, but his contribution to Capcom is undeniable.

Debatable; this is also the guy who thought Ninja Theory were a good fit for Devil May Cry, was completely okay with that odd Mega Man X FPS reboot, and made a BUNCH of questionable decisions late in his career. Furthermore, he doesn't have a single credit with games made by Mikami, Kamiya, OR Suda with the exception of the Resident Evil series and that doesn't mean a whole bunch (especially since he only jumped on that bandwagon AFTER the initial RE1 release was a success). So Inafune's contributions can be debated for quite awhile, mostly because he also never designed, directed, or wrote anything at CAPCOM.

 

[KingWein22]

I somewhat saw this coming. After people raged over the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 and, instead for a constellation prize, we end up getting a free Mega Man vs. Street Fighter download on their community site (I admit I did enjoy the game, but different topic, different day). I really rooted for this company, and I hope it did not end like THQ, but it seems that it is starting down that road...

Hopefully things improve.

 

[Darmani]

No Keiji Inafune isn't some... metaphor ousted savior. and yes he's a little cracked up (or just pandering to the more western leaning game press or a major west fanboy like NinjaGaiden guy was into planes)
But at the least Capcom has suffered further problems after his leaving and other restructuring. If he wasn't some lynchpin they should take his projectsand do it better or complete some of them without him.
Or prove they can do better without him

As it is...Inafune I think might need to avoid interviews or take some actual rest but still seems to have basically "got it" and Capcom needs more than Monster Hunter. TBF I don't think westernization was what was wrong with Resident Evil 6 it was just more fundamental problems that's easy to shove under that dome word like Other M gets and "sexism" (yep that there change in exploration and authorization/rewards set up.. .totally sexism talking not forcing narrative too much before gameplay as enchanted with new toys and direction)

 

[Lovely Mixture]

This is what happens when your DLC practices get out of hand, you shamefully re-release your games, you make reboots that are completely unnecessary, try to shamelessly pander to everyone, effectively discontinue your most famous franchise, and ask people on twitter to buy multiple copies of the same game.

 

[Skops]

Here is the financial solution to Capcom.

Step One: Release some new Megaman games. (specifically Megaman Legends 3)

Step Two: profit.

I'm a little tired of people getting sour by MML3, Legends 1-2 weren't very good games, on top of that, they didn't even sell well. When Mega Man Volnutt was announced in Tatsunoko vs Capcom did you hear any praise? No, in fact the majority of MM fans wanted X instead.

I'm not upset that Mega Man Legends 3 was canceled. What I am upset about is that Mega Man Universe was canceled!