Capcom takes new IP development back to Japan

Capcom has said that it will develop the majority of new IP in Japan, after Western-developed titles such as Bionic Commando and Dark Void flopped at retail.

The company had previously dedicated significant resources to creating titles away from its Japanese base, in a bid to sell to a wider global audience.

Western partnerships are still viable, said Capcom, but only on titles that are already established in the company portfolio.

"Our experience with Bionic Commando has demonstrated the difficulty of outsourcing the development of new title to overseas companies," said Capcom. "Nevertheless, we cannot develop a sufficient number of titles without using the resources of these companies. This is why we plan to continue using these alliances.

"We are considering ways to separate the roles of activities in Japan and overseas. We plan to develop new titles primarily in Japan. Overseas companies may be used mostly to develop titles for existing game series with well-established characters and universal themes. Overseas companies will also handle certain parts and/or lineups of such games," detailed the publisher.

Bionic Commando developer GRIN went bust soon after the game was released. Airtight's Dark Void came out at the start of the year in Europe, and after Capcom had already reduced sales expectations, yesterday it acknowledged "potential shortfalls in sales" of the game.