Resident Evil is old enough to vote as of March. (That means its 18 years old). Its fanbase also has aged commensurately, Capcom said in a recent investor guide. This is not really a good thing, the company delicately points out.
“The longevity of the Resident Evil title also comes with problems,” Capcom said in this white paper on the history of Resident Evil. “The main user group is now in their late-30s to 40s, and the average age is also going up as the series goes on with an increasing possibility that some percentage of the existing users will outgrow games altogether.”
Y’hear that, RE fans? You are old. And you may give up games at some point. “Therefore, there is a constant need to gain new users,” the document notes. Some cross promotion in fashion magazines was a start. “However, obviously game information is not carried by fashion magazines.” Obviously.
Since then, Capcom tells investors, they’ve been “collaborating with fashion brands which are popular among young people,” and have done things like open a Resident Evil restaurant in Tokyo. “These collaborative events are opportunities to be enjoyed by non-gamers as well, so it is important to plan them so that anyone can enjoy them and not aim them at a section of our core gamers.”
It’s sort of an ironic conclusion to the white paper, which begins by noting that when the first Resident Evil was in development, its staff was made up mostly of rookies. Veterans and all stars were working on Street Fighter. The paper also justifies the boring, unimaginative box art for Resident Evil 6’s western release, saying the Japanese version stresses characters while the North American edition focuses on “the horror atmosphere.” Because nothing’s scarier than a big ol’ digit. (Resident Evil 5’s western pack shot had two characters on it, too, if I’m not mistaken.)
Read through it at the link, but bear in mind, this isn’t what Capcom is saying to its customers. It’s what it’s saying to its investors, which may be more forthright
Special Feature: The Secret of Success “Resident Evil” [Capcom Investor Relations]
Comments
29 responses to “Resident Evil Fanbase Also Old, Decaying, Capcom Tells Investors”
dafuq I’m only 24
Look at Tomb Raider now
Capcom tells investors, they’ve been “collaborating with fashion brands which are popular among young people,”
Gee, I wonder why Capcom’s losing money…
Wasn’t the western release the happy giraffe cover?
Yes but the gold edition had two characters hence the confusion maybe?
If I was them I’d just try and make good games to get people playing, but I guess opening restaurants and posting in fashion magazines could work too.
Those things are easier and cheaper than making good games.
I’m 32 and I’ve been enjoying RE since the first game on PS1. I read recently that Capcom were thinking of truly going back to the earlier roots of RE and doing a reboot of sorts. I’m hoping that go through with this as RE6 is a long way from its roots.
Le Fuq. I’m only 21.
Since then, Capcom tells investors, they’ve been “collaborating with fashion brands which are popular among young people,” and have done things like open a Resident Evil restaurant in Tokyo”
Om nom nom nom BRAINZ…..need brainz…..
“Our audience is mainly in this age group, so lets actively abandon them to try and appeal to this other age group.”
Maybe us old timer’s would still play RE games if the series hadn’t gone downhill after number 4 which was almost 10 years ago now, 5 and 6 sucked and Raccoon City was a crime against humanity.
Needs a total re-boot from the ground up, and not just a cosmetic one like the Game-Cube remake of RE1.
Wasn’t Capcom working on a survival horror game that was maybe a spiritual successor the RE?
Oh. and stop letting those people make those God awful movies that can only cheapen the brand.
I believe you are thinking of The Evil Within, which is being directed by Shinji Mikami, it’s not a capcom game though, but it’s said to be a proper survival horror game, so get excited maybe.
The Evil Within looks great from what I’ve seen so far, excitement is at it’s peak.
The Evil Within is being published by Bethesda. So yeah, No Capcom.
REmake was a huge update on the game, a complete reworking of the voice acting, engine, story and a whole heap of new gameplay content. It fixed several plotholes. It wasn’t a cosmetic upgrade. It was a full remake that stayed true to its predecessor while updating everything it possibly could, It outshines the original in every possible way.
5 was a good game, it just wasn’t a good RE game.
The movies might not be good, but they make a hell of a lot of money. Why would they stop? It gives them huge advertising exposure, huge revenue and keeps the series in the minds of teenagers.
Revelations was pretty good, I got a whole load of enjoyment out of that.
I’ve been a fan since the first, the reason I stopped buying is that they are no longer Survival Horror and more Shooter Horror.
the “horror Atmosphere” that’s been missing from the series for a while now?
I just completed another run on Resident Evil 4, for like the 20th time. That game still holds up! How about you give that game to these teenagers and see how they respond? Sure, some might be annoyed that it’s not as fast as Call of Duty or something, but that’s where you explain to them why it’s such a charm that way. Hell, don’t even have to do that. Just let them play it and ignore their complaints. Eventually the horror will sink in and they’ll be crapping their pants when they meet up with the Salvador sisters.
I played the first one when it came out and i’m 27…
in other words, capcom is telling all of us to go fuck ourselfs cos we are too old. oh u want proof?…resident evil 6. ne i say more?
Capcom are freaking clueless. Resteraunts? Fashion magazines?
Funny, many people have become disenfranchised with video games because of other companies using Capcom’s business practices.
every new RE seems to get worse and their dlc practices are disgusting.
Capcom – here’s a crazy idea you might like to try: make good games. And respect your customer base instead of trying to find ways to exploit them e.g. requiring people to pay money for colour palette swaps.
People are always hungry for zombies! Look at how popular the Walking Dead comic/game(just one)/show is. And Capcom really did it “first” in a video game with Resident Evil. The whole survival horror thing took off because it WAS so good. IP can age like Mario, etc and still be relevant… IF it’s a good game. And Dead Rising 3 just came out on Xbone… the RE franchise is better than DR3. Revelations was brilliant.
It doesn’t matter tremendously if an audience is young or old… IF the games are good. Look at Spider-Man… although it’s a comic, it came out in the 60’s and it’s still going strong.
Resident Evil is a very good case study for the problems that modern Japanese developers face in a post XBOX 360 industry. It tries to please Japanese audiences by minimising change and telling very anime-like stories, but then it goes on to alienate that audience by attempting to inject what it considers American interests. It ends up in this area where Japanese audiences don’t like it, the wider western audience thinks it’s stupid and the westerners who normally appreciate Japanese games feel the same way the Japanese do.
As games grew more complex blending them to appeal to both sides became harder and harder. In the past Mega Man worked because it was so simple it only interacted with games on a basic mechanical level, but now story telling and narrative is a major part of almost every mainstream game the cultural differences really create a gap. Games no longer appeal to both camps naturally and both sides are pretty clueless on how to fix that. You can’t just make a Call of Duty JRPG, you’ve got to enjoy both Call of Duty and JRPGs, find the common ground and somehow make a game there.
With most established series that common ground simply doesn’t exist or requires such broad changes that they’re better off renaming the game and starting fresh.
im an Resident evil fan,
I was watching my uncle and auntie play this game from RE directors cut to Resident Evil 3, when I was 10?, started playing it 1,2,3,4 and 5, tried 6 just horrible..
im 19… not that old Capcom
Something smells kinda rotten in here, and it’s not the zombies