Ben-DutkaCapcom says they need to reduce the development time for major titles – to about two and a half years rather than three or four – and that's a primary focus for the future.
As reported by GameSpot , Capcom told their investors that while "speeding up development will probably raise the cost," the company will require quality content if they wish to "survive by overcoming intense global competition." As part of this "speed up" process, Capcom cited Resident Evil 6 , which will release about three and a half years after RE5, and Lost Planet 3 , which is slated to launch about two and a half years after the previous sequel.
They also plan to release new Devil May Cry installments every two and a half years ( DMC , the reboot in the works at Ninja Theory, is scheduled to arrive early next year). Now, the question is obvious: Is this the answer Japanese publishers like Capcom have been looking for? They're not talking about "annualization," of course, but brand-name recognition is bigger now than ever before, so it makes sense to put that brand before a consumer's nose as often as possible.
At the same time, some have called the quality of Capcom products into question this generation. Even with more investments to speed up the development time, are they not risking another quality knock? Yeah, you'll have two RE titles out in 2012, but the first – Operation Raccoon City – pretty much sucked. …ah, but then again, that game mysteriously managed to sell quite well.
So maybe we really only need the name, and Capcom needs those names to be out over and over again.
