Capcom president: American publishers focus on money, not making great games

Capcom - Image 1In GameDaily’s “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” feature, Capcom founder Kenzo Tsujimoto talked about a few of the differences between American and Japanese game publishers. Here’s a snippet off of the feature:

The chief difference between American and Japanese game publishers: In the United States, publishers are very successful – they’re run by professional management. They focus on money, not making great games.

On our side, we always operate under the assumption that there’s a high possibility of losing money, but that’s just our style. American publishers make games so everyone can play. The Japanese – especially Capcom – favor the hardcore gamer.

While this is obviously just a generalization, there are indeed a few video game publishers that focus more on the financial aspect of the industry rather than on being innovative and delivering good games to the gaming public.

And one other thing, although this isn’t really that big of a deal. Just us being nitpicky. That last part sounds kind of weird, since if you guys remember, Capcom’s press release announcing that Devil May Cry 4 will be going multiplatform includes the following line:

Capcom is committed to making its titles available to as wide an audience as possible.

Capcom’s take on the whole affair is also reminiscent of this line of thinking. Another Capcom press release from March 20 (again about Devil May Cry 4) has this line at the end:

Capcom will continue to produce titles that appeal to users while pursuing a multiplatform strategy to help enhance profits.

Judging by Tsujimoto’s earlier statements, wouldn’t that actually place them more in the “American” style category? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

Via GameDaily

Capcom - Image 1In GameDaily’s “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” feature, Capcom founder Kenzo Tsujimoto talked about a few of the differences between American and Japanese game publishers. Here’s a snippet off of the feature:

The chief difference between American and Japanese game publishers: In the United States, publishers are very successful – they’re run by professional management. They focus on money, not making great games.

On our side, we always operate under the assumption that there’s a high possibility of losing money, but that’s just our style. American publishers make games so everyone can play. The Japanese – especially Capcom – favor the hardcore gamer.

While this is obviously just a generalization, there are indeed a few video game publishers that focus more on the financial aspect of the industry rather than on being innovative and delivering good games to the gaming public.

And one other thing, although this isn’t really that big of a deal. Just us being nitpicky. That last part sounds kind of weird, since if you guys remember, Capcom’s press release announcing that Devil May Cry 4 will be going multiplatform includes the following line:

Capcom is committed to making its titles available to as wide an audience as possible.

Capcom’s take on the whole affair is also reminiscent of this line of thinking. Another Capcom press release from March 20 (again about Devil May Cry 4) has this line at the end:

Capcom will continue to produce titles that appeal to users while pursuing a multiplatform strategy to help enhance profits.

Judging by Tsujimoto’s earlier statements, wouldn’t that actually place them more in the “American” style category? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

Via GameDaily

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