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Haruhiro Tsujimoto, Capcom's chief operating officer, spoke to Bloomberg during last week's Tokyo Game Show. The discussion touched upon several subject matters, but the key takeaway was his refusal to accept any outside bid for complete ownership of Capcom's development and publishing arms. Sony and Microsoft have been hoovering up studios over the past three years, but the COO stated that any approach or bid for Capcom would be "gracefully declined." Tsujimoto was presented with a hypothetical situation: "How would Capcom respond to an acquisition offer from Microsoft?" A continuation of their existing relationship was his preference going forward: "I believe it would be better if we were equal partners."
He revealed that offers were made in the past: "There was a time (when) we were a target." Capcom desires internal "organic growth," rather than rapid expansion through acquisitions. It will occasionally rely on the third parties to develop games: "I also believe we can utilize external partners...but we have no intention of acquiring companies." Returning to the subject of growth—Capcom has not yet implemented a major price hike for its AAA titles, unlike other (rival) publishers—gamers are now paying up to $70 for (base/standard edition) big-budget interactive experiences on the latest-gen consoles and PCs. The house of Resident Evil and Street Fighter is seemingly ready to follow suit—as reported by Nikkei; Tsujimoto-san stated: "Development costs now are about 100 times more than they were during the Famicom era, but software prices haven't gone up to that extent...There's also a need to raise wages in order to attract talent. Seeing as wages are rising in the industry as a whole, I think raising unit prices is a healthy business model."
View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source
He revealed that offers were made in the past: "There was a time (when) we were a target." Capcom desires internal "organic growth," rather than rapid expansion through acquisitions. It will occasionally rely on the third parties to develop games: "I also believe we can utilize external partners...but we have no intention of acquiring companies." Returning to the subject of growth—Capcom has not yet implemented a major price hike for its AAA titles, unlike other (rival) publishers—gamers are now paying up to $70 for (base/standard edition) big-budget interactive experiences on the latest-gen consoles and PCs. The house of Resident Evil and Street Fighter is seemingly ready to follow suit—as reported by Nikkei; Tsujimoto-san stated: "Development costs now are about 100 times more than they were during the Famicom era, but software prices haven't gone up to that extent...There's also a need to raise wages in order to attract talent. Seeing as wages are rising in the industry as a whole, I think raising unit prices is a healthy business model."
View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source
