Capcom has been talking about new intellectual property, explaining that nothing is more difficult in this industry than getting a brand new game series started.
“There is nothing more difficult in this business than launching new IP,”explains Christian Svensson. “Capcom is fortunate, and I think has a better track record than most – we do very few licensed properties. Look across our history, and our portfolio of products, and they are all things that we own and control.Resident Evil,Street Fighter,Devil May Cry,Lost Planet,Dead Rising,Okami,Megaman: these are all iconic brands.
“And I would look atOkami,Dead RisingandLost Planetas three of this generation’s(ish) successful new launches. We brought backStreet Fighterto be relevant again, after a nine or ten-year hiatus of re-releases and rehashes. These are really hard things to do.”
It’s a shame that new IP struggles these days, but publishers could perhaps stand to break the vicious cycle. Consumers don’t know about a new game, so the publisher doesn’t feel like marketing it properly, so consumers keep not knowing, and publishers keep not marketing. If you gaveOkamithe same marketing budget Capcom givesResident Evil, I bet it would have sold quite well. Often, all it takes is simplytellingcustomers a game is huge in order tomakeit huge.
