Resident Evil Producer "Survival horror isnt popular enough in America"

[Wrathborne]

http://kotaku.com/5895875/survival-horror-just-isnt-popular-enough-in-america-says-resident-evil-producer

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While part of me says this guy is talking out of his ass and saying that the US gamers are more the reason the series direction changed...the other part of me has to grudgingly accept that he isn't wrong either.

The demand for more action has been steadily increasing for over 10 years now, and while I myself do enjoy having more things to shoot...I still find myself going back to the older games to get the atmosphere and that got me into the series int he first place.

Though in the review I think its funny that he points out that Revelations "Is the way it is" because its more action oriented, but doesn't bother to mention the return to darker atmosphere and survival horror.

Survival horror is more a niche market again. He does say that RE6 wont be completely action orientated, which sound since and all...but this is coming from a producer. Producers can change their mind anytime they want too.

I"ll be back in my wheelchair remembering playing RE on ye olden Playstation one.

[News Bot]

If they keep doing what they're doing with Revelations then it's fine.

But their entire "any game that isn't CoD is auto-fail" mentality needs to fuck off.

[Smiley]

Survival Horror as depicted in the earlier Resident Evil games isn't popular enough. At least not popular enough to sell over 6 million units during its launch. If they want those numbers then I can see why they left the attempted one like Revelations to be developed on the 3DS and will continue the action with RE6 on PS3, 360 and PC.

It's not a genre' for everyone. And when you get a good survival horror game that goes back to those elements you have mild (and at a point mediocre) reviews followed by sales that will in way reach 6 million. Like Silent Hill: Downpour. I've never bought a CoD game. Doesn't interest me. But if their goal is to reach out to those fans then I don't think that speaks well for RE6 in terms of horror. I'm not expecting survival horror in the traditional sense from this series, and haven't since RE5.

[Vito]

This is a sad reality, they are right.

REV didn't sell well on NA.

[Pikminister]

Though in the review I think its funny that he points out that Revelations "Is the way it is" because its more action oriented, but doesn't bother to mention the return to darker atmosphere and survival horror.

I think that with that he was merely explaining why Revelations is not entirely an old school survival-horror game. Mostly because there is this "need" in the modern market to cater to action-oriented consumers. And that's why Revelations "Is the way it is". A hybrid.

But like News Bot says, as long as they can continue making non-numbered games that fill the survival-horror void (to a point), everything should be fine.

[Smiley]

Has RE6 been confirmed to be co-op? The trailer implies it is, and I have doubts it'll be like Revelations where you've got someone following you for no reason other than to have conversations. The expectations are that this will be the biggest game. They want to attract CoD players. And we have a lot of action in the trailer to the point of having a mysterious male version of Alice running around.

Dramatic Horror.

[Pikminister]

REV didn't sell well on NA.

There was an initial 90k shipment with the "Revelaitons" typo. When I bought my copy in mid-February, I couldn't find that version anywhere. Presently, I always check the REV boxes when I'm at a store and none of them have the typo anymore.

So IMO the first shipment probably sold out. But I have no idea how the game sold in EU. Other than this story mentioning that the game sold well in Spain: http://nuke-lab.com/2012/02/03/resid...asa-en-ventas/

[Canas Renvall]

Resident Evil: Revelations el recién estrenado título de Nintendo, ha arrasado en ventas durante su primera semana en España. Situándose como el título más vendido tanto de consolas de sobremesa como de portátiles.

Rough translation:
Resident Evil: Revelations, the recently debuted title from Nintendo, has won by a landslide in sales during its first week in Spain, situating itself as the most-sold title for any system, console or handheld.

[[STARS]TyranT]

Sick of doom saying. I really am.

RE6 will silence critics. I have that feeling I got from CV.

[Rombie]

But their entire "any game that isn't CoD is auto-fail" mentality needs to fuck off.

QFT. Exactly. Capcom needs to stop trying to be a big fish in the big pond on this. They should be happy to be the biggest fish in the small pond and start nailing good solid games in all sorts of genres with smaller budgets that can sell 2 to 4 million units and be happy about it. Sell several of these over a year and you're actually doing better than the publisher who has one tentpole in a year selling 10 million units total in it's lifetime.

The bigger issue to me, and something thats become apparent looking at the [mostly] negative comment about ORC is that the other impact of aiming for action and trying for the CoD crowd is that a) they'll probably fail at that, and b) then alienate what audience they already have and the sales will drop even more. Seems ever so short focused.

Capcom got burned a lot on the later half of the last gen. Horror games they did make didn't do very well (Clock Tower 3, Haunting Ground) and obviously RE4 with it's more action oriented gameplay led the way on sales. But they're missing the point of doing something good. What people at Capcom should be saying is "We were pioneers in horror gaming, we recognise that it is a strength and alongside making some action titles we think the market wants we will also dominate the horror gaming area and be a success in everything." Seems like such a better mentality to have than "We want sales like Call of Duty by making games only for people who like action like in Call of Duty."

[News Bot]

QFT. Exactly. Capcom needs to stop trying to be a big fish in the big pond on this. They should be happy to be the biggest fish in the small pond and start nailing good solid games in all sorts of genres with smaller budgets that can sell 2 to 4 million units and be happy about it. Sell several of these over a year and you're actually doing better than the publisher who has one tentpole in a year selling 10 million units total in it's lifetime.

The bigger issue to me, and something thats become apparent looking at the [mostly] negative comment about ORC is that the other impact of aiming for action and trying for the CoD crowd is that a) they'll probably fail at that, and b) then alienate what audience they already have and the sales will drop even more. Seems ever so short focused.

Capcom got burned a lot on the later half of the last gen. Horror games they did make didn't do very well (Clock Tower 3, Haunting Ground) and obviously RE4 with it's more action oriented gameplay led the way on sales. But they're missing the point of doing something good. What people at Capcom should be saying is "We were pioneers in horror gaming, we recognise that it is a strength and alongside making some action titles we think the market wants we will also dominate the horror gaming area and be a success in everything." Seems like such a better mentality to have than "We want sales like Call of Duty by making games only for people who like action like in Call of Duty."

Precisely. And if they weren't so focused on beefing up a game with an over-sized budget (BH5), they wouldn't worry so much about having it be a massive success in order to recoup costs and could focus more on making a creative game. Who gave a fuck that the BH5 cut-scenes were directed in Hollywood or that a few songs (which weren't featured on the soundtrack) were played by a giant orchestra?

[Pikminister]

Who gave a fuck that the BH5 cut-scenes were directed in Hollywood...

I read somewhere that Capcom wanted to get rid of the cheese in the RE5 script and that's why they hired that Hollywood director. And that's one of the first things he set out to do. Get rid of the cheese. He said so in an interview, if my memory serves me well.

[Darkmoon]

The thing about Call of Modern Warfare and such is that they do what they do...and they do it exceptionally well. ORC has been a flop because it does what they do, and do it shit. The fact of the issue is that there are a dozen other games released every quarter that also want the Modern Battlefield crowd, and they're also doing it better than Capcom.

Capcom has gone from having the entire of a small-ish pie to the crust of a bigger one. So far it's worked but with the economy going down the shitter and people being more careful with money, casual gamers are going to buy games they know they'll enjoy and take less risks. And Capcom has made it pretty clear, a bunch of times, that there actual fanbase can go fuck off and die in a fire, since there aren't as many of us as MoD players. Which costs you those guaranteed sales.

It's not like it's impossible to have horror elements and action gameplay - Capcom's decided that never the twain shall meet, but other games pull it off. I guess they're worried scary might drive away run and gun players by not being shooting things? I dunno. But it's not for me.

...which is why I haven't bought a Capcom game new since RE5. That's about £200 they haven't got. A drop in the ocean, I know. But more and more folks are using second hand games as a form of protest - and voting with the wallet is the only thing Capcom gives a shit about.

[Pikminister]

It's not like it's impossible to have horror elements and action gameplay - Capcom's decided that never the twain shall meet, but other games pull it off.

RE4 (Yes, RE4) and Revelations have that. And they did pull it off.

Alas, neither had the sales of CoD.

And that's why we're here with this controversial story on our lap.

[News Bot]

I read somewhere that Capcom wanted to get rid of the cheese in the RE5 script and that's why they hired that Hollywood director. And that's one of the first things he set out to do. Get rid of the cheese. He said so in an interview, if my memory serves me well.

If they wanted to get rid of the cheese they should focus all of that money on hiring actual translators.