Jun Takeuchi: Resident Evil must target 'Mass Audience' not (small) Hardcore market

[Pikminister]

Capcom: Resident Evil Is a Mass Audience Franchise

Capcom has revealed its new business strategy, and confirmed that it will release titles aimed at a small hardcore market, and others aimed at a larger, mass audience.

According to the company's deputy head of consumer games and the lead producer of the recent Resident Evil 5, Jun Takeuchi, detailed this new plan.

"I think the [future] demand will be characterized by trends that are polar opposites," said Takeuchi. "One of these trends will be games that specifically target a small number of "hardcore gamers".

"The other trend will be popular, big name titles, such as Resident Evil, that target a mass audience and focus on delivering a sense of entertainment."

There you have it, fellas. Resident Evil went mainstream.... for good. No going back now.

More here:

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Capco...e-158893.shtml

[BrionIrons]

resident evil went mainstrean since RE2.

[Pikminister]

resident evil went mainstrean since RE2.

Blasphemy.

[REmaster]

I would say RE4 sealed the deal. CV got bad reviews because it didn't have anything new other than cleaner graphics and updated camera control. They poured abunch of money into RE0 and it failed horribly which almost killed the production of RE4, but they released it anyways and obviously it did so well that the franchise was a superpower once more.

Then came the masses, and the games snowballed into a giant leonplagasactiontricellshevaco-op thing.


The rest is history.


I mean - no more Item boxes...no more typewriters...no more puzzles...and no more zombies for the most part. That's like having a mario game (not a sports variation) without pipes, pain in the ass platform jumps and fire spitting flowers.

I'd have to agree that it's been heading in that direction for quite sometime, they're just now owning up to it.

[Pikminister]

The thing that gets my attention from this news bit is that Takeuchi confirms what many already knew but refused to acknowledge: teh hardcore market is rather smallish.

Thus why they cater to the leonplagasactiontricellshevaco-op crowd as a result.

RE2 didn't do that.... RE4 and RE5 did.

[REmaster]

The thing that gets my attention from this news bit is that Takeuchi confirms what many already knew but refused to acknowledge: teh hardcore market is rather smallish.

Thus why they cater to the leonplagasactiontricellshevaco-op crowd as a result.

RE2 didn't do that.... RE4 and RE5 did.

Yea, I'm glad Jun just went ahead and finally said it though lol.

[Darkmoon]

I think if the harcore market went, 'You know what, fuck you too!' Capcom would feel the bite. I don't imagine most regular gamers will be willing to put up with there, 'But you need this version to play with the new content!' tricks in the day and age of DLC, nor do I think most of them will buy multiple copies of the game for the various other reasons we do.

But for the most part they are right. They do need to appeal to the mass market. Problem is, I think they're doing it wrong. Making the game an action game and stripping out all the scare elements to fit in yet more action isn't gonna work in a market saturated with, let's be honest here, much better and sometimes scarier action games. I don't think taking out the RE elements has boosted sales as much as they believe. The new gameplay style is what's saved the game. Taking out horror and exploring has just annoyed the piss outta the old fans. I don't think most of the newer people would bitch if you had to, gasp, look around sometimes and had scary parts...because, you know, scares is how they advertise the game and exploration can increase it's life span.

And Capcom does need to remember...the public is a fickle bitch. Someday, sales will drop. And then the hardcore fans likely won't be fans at all anymore. I know it's increasingly unlikely I will be, especially given bits of news like this.

[Stu]

Who REALLY gives a toss what Takuechi thinks anyway? His game was a piss poor immitation of the greatest video game of all time, which was still much maligned against the community, and he's not even working on the next game anyway.

Couldn't give two fucks for his vision really.

[Darkmoon]

Well, mostly it bugs me because his view may be Capcom's. He is a fairly high up guy. But mostly because I disagree with his philosophy on this one.

[TrekStar]

resident evil went mainstrean since RE2.

in my opionion is the mainstream since Resident Evil 4.

[Scream]

Yep, your right, it went mainstream with RE4 IMO. After working at several asian companies I can see exactly what that Takeuchi guy is like from his face - and it's not good. The good guys are people like Shinji Mikami who are almost forced to leave after completing crap like RE4 (OK it had good gameplay but its not an RE game).

Good work is not rewarded in the corporate atmosphere, cost cutting, profits and BSing are. Once you become someone like Shinji Mikami, it is difficult to take care of yourself in that sort of structure unless you become part of the herd or have a "guardian angel/CEO" - thats why he left and started his own thing more concentrated on the creative side. Restecpa!

[RetroRain]

Who REALLY gives a toss what Takuechi thinks anyway? His game was a piss poor immitation of the greatest video game of all time, which was still much maligned against the community, and he's not even working on the next game anyway.

Couldn't give two fucks for his vision really.

I happen to agree.

[Archelon]

Is it really fair to say that Resident Evil went mainstream with RE4 when there were already two live action movies before it was even released, and RE2 sold more than it did?

I know "teh hardcorez" blame everything on RE4, but honestly, I think the movies had more to do with the series becoming a household name than RE4 ever did. All RE4 did was save the series from falling into obscurity, if not all out irrelevancy, which it had been approaching rather rapidly since the release of CODE: Veronica.

I don't think taking out the RE elements has boosted sales as much as they believe.

I'm pretty sure RE5 has outsold most of its competitors in both the third person shooter and survival horror genres.

Besides, weren't the RE games always designed with the intent to appeal to a global audience, even from the very beginning? This really is no different.

[Bertha]

I think if the harcore market went, 'You know what, fuck you too!' Capcom would feel the bite. I don't imagine most regular gamers will be willing to put up with there, 'But you need this version to play with the new content!' tricks in the day and age of DLC, nor do I think most of them will buy multiple copies of the game for the various other reasons we do.

But for the most part they are right. They do need to appeal to the mass market. Problem is, I think they're doing it wrong. Making the game an action game and stripping out all the scare elements to fit in yet more action isn't gonna work in a market saturated with, let's be honest here, much better and sometimes scarier action games. I don't think taking out the RE elements has boosted sales as much as they believe. The new gameplay style is what's saved the game. Taking out horror and exploring has just annoyed the piss outta the old fans. I don't think most of the newer people would bitch if you had to, gasp, look around sometimes and had scary parts...because, you know, scares is how they advertise the game and exploration can increase it's life span.

And Capcom does need to remember...the public is a fickle bitch. Someday, sales will drop. And then the hardcore fans likely won't be fans at all anymore. I know it's increasingly unlikely I will be, especially given bits of news like this.

Is it really fair to say that Resident Evil went mainstream with RE4 when there were already two live action movies before it was even released, and RE2 sold more than it did?

I know "teh hardcorez" blame everything on RE4, but honestly, I think the movies had more to do with the series becoming a household name than RE4 ever did. All RE4 did was save the series from falling into obscurity, if not all out irrelevancy, which it had been approaching rather rapidly since the release of CODE: Veronica.

I'm pretty sure RE5 has outsold most of its competitors in both the third person shooter and survival horror genres.

Besides, weren't the RE games always designed with the intent to appeal to a global audience, even from the very beginning? This really is no different.

I agree with many points you two make.

One thing people need to remember is that Capcom is a business. They make video games because they want to make money. They wont make as much money catering to a smaller fringe of people. It's so easy for people to sit around and play the blame game. Will everyone like the changes the company makes? Obviously not, but any business is going to go where the money is. That's just how things work.

[Carnivol]

Archelon just spoke truth. Gather around and listen.

Technically, one may say something's gone mainstream when you have more than one active project within the franchise in a relatively short amount of time, and on more than one platform - Let's see what happened roughly around 1999~2001: Resident Evil - Code: Veronica, Resident Evil 3 - Nemesis, Resident Evil Survivor, Survivor 2 - Code: Veronica, and Resident Evil GBC/Gaiden, 4D Executor + another title/franchise being launched as "a game by the creator(s) of Resident Evil."

That's half-a-decade before any Resident Evil 4 and pretty much before any Hollywood movies went into full production. Either way, Capcom needs to appeal to a "wide audience" to be able to keep Resident Evil going with its current production values and development cycles.

Only way for that to ever change is if they suddenly launch another extremely profitable franchise that can take its place as the cash cow franchise and they then still decide to let Resident Evil get the same amount of love and passion - whilst really only focusing on a smaller target audience instead of the "big picture" (With the current state of MT Framework, it'd be totally doable, that's for sure, but they still need that other game to act as a main test bed for the engine upgrades... and... well... Lost Planet kinda is that, but current sales don't permit it to be that in a business perspective - mostly 'cause of how some idiot journalist once quoted a guy who said "Diz ish not liek Lost planet!" after he'd had sixteen beers and a few vodka/tequilas too many and looked at pictures of Quantum Theory or something.)