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| talbaineric 6055th Post
 
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
     
     
     
     
     
|  "Capcom reports losses for fiscal year"
, posted Wed 19 May 05:33
Copy and pasted from the Capcom forum:
Capcom has recently posted a loss for the second fiscal year in a row. For the 2004 fiscal year ended March 31, 2004, Capcom's sales were down 15.1 percent to 52.67 billion yen ($461.5 million). Its operating profits took an even greater fall of 79 percent to 1.4 billion yen ($12.29 million).
While Capcom's losses were not as bad as those posted 12 months earlier, the company still recorded a figure of 9.16 billion yen ($80.26 million) in red ink. Back in the 2002 fiscal year, Capcom's sales were down by one percent to 62.03 billion yen ($543.55 million), while its operating profits fell by 31.3 percent to 6.58 billion ($57.66 million). Capcom's overall losses in the 2002 fiscal year totaled 19.59 billion yen (171.65 million).
Surprisingly, Capcom attributes its lack of sales and income in its 2003 fiscal year almost entirely to disappointing performances in America and Europe rather than in Japan's mature market. In America, sales of Mega Man Battle Network 3 for the GBA and Chaos Legion for PlayStation 2 were a success, but a number of other titles such as Dino Crisis 3 on Xbox and the GameCube version of Viewtiful Joe did not sell as well as expected. The delayed release of Resident Evil Outbreak and campaigns to liquidate market inventories also hurt the company. As a result, sales in North America were down by 52.1 percent, contributing to a North American operating loss of 4.6 billion yen ($40.31 million) for the company.
Chaos Legion, Dino Crisis 3, and Viewtiful Joe also performed less well than expected in Europe, where a lack of any other major titles saw Capcom's sales plummet by some 34.8 percent. Capcom Europe still managed to post a profit for the 2003 fiscal year, although its operating profits of 330 million yen ($2.89 million) are down over 50 percent on those for 2002.
In Japan, Capcom suffered at the hands of increased competition from the used game market, but still managed to post 8 billion yen ($69 million) in operating profits from its three different sectors. In the console game sector, Capcom's major titles such as Onimusha 3, Monster Hunter, Resident Evil Outbreak, and Mega Man Battle Network 4 sold as well as expected. In addition, Grand Theft Auto III, which the company is publishing under license in Japan, sold surprisingly well.
Capcom's amusement facility businesses were also successful throughout the course of the year, largely thanks to its community-based operations and collaborations with shopping malls. In the arcade games sector, Capcom broadened its sales with Mobile Suit Gundam Z: AEUG vs. Titans, which was later released on the PS2.
Aside from its losses in the gaming sector, Capcom will also be posting 7.73 billion yen ($67.74 million) in special losses as a result of unrecoverable liabilities from its banking house subsidiary and the restructuring of its gaming sector. Capcom has been re-examining its internal organization since 2002, and the company recently announced the establishment of its new Clover Studio.
After posting losses for two years in succession, Capcom now considers the reorganization of its corporate structure a top priority. Together with the re-examination of its research and development departments and finding ways to cut costs in all its sectors, the company will be looking into ways of reforming its management structure and business processes on a worldwide basis.
For the fiscal year of 2005, Capcom expects to make 65.5 billion yen ($574.06 million) in sales and 3.9 billion yen ($34.18 million) in net profit. In terms of aims in the gaming sector, Capcom expects to continue making profit from the current generation of home consoles whilst also looking into the development of games for the upcoming PSP and Nintendo DS platforms. Capcom also sees benefits in expanding its businesses in the online gaming and mobile gaming markets, and plans to create a business model to address the used game market, which is affecting its sales.
I figured Viewtiful Joe surpassed Capcom's expectations,at least.
Looking at the figures,looks like Capcom's lost a lot. But hopefully with CFJ,that might change.
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| Radish 2513th Post
Platinum Carpet V.I.P- Board Master
|  "Re(2):Capcom reports losses for fiscal year"
, posted Wed 19 May 09:57
quote:
In Japan, Capcom suffered at the hands of increased competition from the used game market
I think every game company uses this excuse and to me it seems like a lame one. I don't buy this excuse for the simple reason that other markets have "used" sectors and they remain healthy. Do you ever hear Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Ford, GM, etc. complain that the used car sales market is hurting them? Or how about the housing market? I've never heard of the "used" houses hurting the housing industry (which is obviously quite healthy since damn sprawl is all around me).
I think Capcom just needs to make better games, across platforms and make better choices. Viewtiful Joe should have come out on PS2 sooner and they should just stop making games for Xbox in Japan (not the US or Europe).
Well, I think those markets are a little different. With used cars, you have the wear and tear on the engine, damage to the interior, mileage, the feeling of not being the sole owner of a car that factor in to the benefit of buying a new car over a used car. With videogames (especially now that they are almost exclusively in digital format) there is almost no difference between a used game and a new one with the exception of in what state the instruction manual is and if the game is scratched. If both of these aren't a factor, than there's little reason to buy a new game for twice the price of a used one.
Don't get me wrong, I love used game stores (except crap like Gamestop that buys them for shit and then sells them for $5 less than retail) but I think it's a legitamate concern for companies to look into. However I think that they should make their games more interesting to own on the long term and not sell back to stores in great numbers as opposed to simply blaming the second hand stores.
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| DarkZero 784th Post
Red Carpet Regular Member+
| "Re(2):Capcom reports losses for fiscal year" , posted Wed 19 May 10:25
quote:
In Japan, Capcom suffered at the hands of increased competition from the used game market
I think every game company uses this excuse and to me it seems like a lame one. I don't buy this excuse for the simple reason that other markets have "used" sectors and they remain healthy. Do you ever hear Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Ford, GM, etc. complain that the used car sales market is hurting them? Or how about the housing market? I've never heard of the "used" houses hurting the housing industry (which is obviously quite healthy since damn sprawl is all around me).
I think Capcom just needs to make better games, across platforms and make better choices. Viewtiful Joe should have come out on PS2 sooner and they should just stop making games for Xbox in Japan (not the US or Europe).
Besides the differences that Radish mentioned, there's also a difference in age between the car industry and the game industry. The car industry has been around long enough that resales have been integrated into the industry, not just on the bottom line, but to the point where many car companies and/or official dealerships sell used cars themselves. The game industry, on the other hand, is a lot younger, and the resale market is even younger than that. We've just reached the point, with the PS1, where you could actually look at the used game disc and know that it isn't scratched, whereas in the past you used to buy a used SNES or Genesis cart and pray that nothing inside it is used, burned-out, or covered in household crud.
And if it was just Capcom claiming that they've been hurt by resales, or if every game developer was claiming that they've been hurt by resales, then yes, it would be crap. But if you pay attention to the interviews with many different game developers, you'll see a trend. The only ones complaining about poor sales due to used game sales have been Japanese developers, and only over the last year or two in large numbers. That would indicate to me that the Japanese resale market suddenly spiked a year or two ago and that Japanese game developers are suddenly seeing a loss of sales that they hadn't started to account for yet.
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