John-ShepardResident Evil is an iconic name in the world of video games, despite some long-time fans saying the IP has taken a downward turn.
In a long, detailed feature posted at Capcom's Investor Relations page , the publisher talks about why the acclaimed, enduring survival/horror series remains popular.
They talk about several factors that have helped keep the franchise relevant and successful. First on the list is the "elaborate settings and world" that keep players riveted, and then comes the necessity for "attractive" characters. Capcom believes players are more interested in recurring characters:
"The main characters have made many appearances spanning all the titles and get older and more mature as the series goes on. A character who was a rookie police officer when he debuted is a member of an organization under the direct control of the president in the latest game, and a powerless young girl has matured into a U.S. agent. Rather than fading away over the 17 years, they have become even deeper characters. This character appeal has also helped to win firm fans."
It also helps that Capcom swaps out creative talent for each new installment, which means that there's a different development team and set of producers for each entry. Some may argue that this hampers a cohesive vision, but the publisher sees it as a big benefit to the franchise's freshness. "Each creator adds their own touch to the strong Resident Evil identity, constantly creating a new Resident Evil just like a relay," they said.
That's all well and good, but many fans aren't too happy after Resident Evil: Raccoon City and Resident Evil 6 . In our estimation, one just plain sucked while the other was, at the very least, an interesting blend of various elements . The latter is still highly controversial.
Don't forget how a man with spindly arms can take horse steroids and become a raging behemoth to live up to Gears trends.
Japanese devs are smoking something or just looking at sales and not critical/customer reception. It's true that these bad games sell really well (pissing me off) but man are they aimless.
Agree,it also pisses me of that so many people buy this bad games so that the company's feel no need to change this so their sequels in the future will also be crap
@Ben, if you had read the 2nd page of the Investors Relations page, you would've found out about the bigger story behind that bulletin.
It turns out that Capcom believes that one of the biggest challenges for the Resident Evil franchise, is that the RE fanbase is way too old. Between 30 and 40 years old. And the company needed to implement a new strategy that would replace that aging fanbase with a much younger one.
So they set out to reach non-gamers. They did this through fashion magazines and making the games themselves more accessible (a.k.a. dumbing them down).
And that is why Resident Evil 6 became the bloated mess that it was. Because Capcom tried to satisfy as many people as they could. In an unsuccessful bid to win over as many people as possible. As it turns out, RE6 failed to even match the sames of the last mainline RE game.
Good God RE6 was awful. I barely made it half way through Leon's campaign before I quit.
why Dumbing down the games?Why not make more options to customize your gamecaracter so that you can choose your gameplay ;only dumb action or more the survival gameplay.
Then both the youth AND the older gamers can play the way they want AND therefore will sell even more,but no the company's take the easy way
Jawknee I made myself finish Leon's to get my $6 worth 🙂 Then I played about half of Ada's and was only sustained by the constant presence of her ass. But I had to quit and sell.
I can't sell mine. I bought the digital version with a credit I got from Sony.
PUAHAHAHAHA! Successful? I haven't given a crap about RE since RE4. Crapcom is Squeenix's slightly less ugly older younger sister.
signed
And possibly slightly greedier.
funny how theres no mention of the rest of the series.
yea the atmosphere and returning characters made the series more enjoyable, but that alones not going to carry it.
the only reason why RE is still a surviving title, pun intended, is because of name alone.
remove that and people would see it for the pathetic attempt of a TPS it really is!
crapcom seriously need to sit down and take a good look at what made resident evil so popular, take a look and see whats making the evil within so popular, wake the f*ck up and stop living in denial!
either that, or kiss and make up with miakami and beg him to come back where he belongs, producer of the franchise he made famous!
neither will ever happen, for the same reason, they have their heads too far up their a$$e$!
the reason why japanese companies are in the sh*tter is because of their sheer arrogance and pride.
they put bullsh*t reasons in front of them to protect their pride, and cannot get over their self obsessed egos to see the truth, to see why their once billion dollar franchises, are now dwindling.
i read somewhere that res.evil 6 sold 5.2 million,THAT'S the reason they make this the shitty way,it still brings in a lot of cash.
Resident Evil still sells for one reason and one reason alone: name recognition.
If they want to make this franchise great again, they need to higher better script writers, voice actors and stick with the RE Revelations atmosphere and gameplay.
how does one call Capcom a bunch of idiots without being insulting? cos i'd really like to try but simply can't manage the feat. Capcom, forget everything you think you know and start again. that is the only advice anyone can give you at this point. the name is the only thing keeping the resident evil series afloat and we all know it. And after the Steel Battalion nonsense i doubt Capcom even cares as long as it makes money so please stop giving them any coverage as they do not deserve it.
@_________ i up voted you because i actually agree with you on this 1
if resident evil was such a success then why are capcom going broke ill tell you why because resident evil 6 even though the sales it got they lost money
only company i know that can sell millions of copies and lose money on the game
also capcom paid more for advertising resident evil 6 than they did making the game
capcom really doesn't understand whats best for buisness anymore
so now they have to try the phones and mmo cash shop ways because everything their doing is blowing up in their faces
and it really is 1 excuse after another
also Monster hunter 4 was delayed due to resident evil 6s bad sales thats according to cr@pcom
looks like these are all the reasons why resident evil is a failure not a success