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Capcom Q&A for Q4 FY3/22: hiring sales data analysts, long-term goal of 100M unit sales/year, plans for dormant IP, 10-year prediction on the market

ggx2ac

ggx2ac

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(They publish Dark Souls)
Source: https://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/data/result.html#result_4q

This is late but I noticed no one made a thread.

A thread about Capcom hiring sales data analysts posted in a forum about video game sales data...

Capcom has been hiring sales data analysts:
Q: Why are you increasing your workforce?

A: In addition to expanding our development pipeline in the future we are carrying out research into new technologies with the aim of providing even higher quality content. Further, in recent years the importance of staff who gather and analyze sales data has increased and as such we will continue to increase our workforce going forward.
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Capcom is aiming for 100M unit sales of its software per year:
Q: Catalog sales have shown favorable growth, however going forward what is your image for annual unit sales and your pipeline strategy?

A: In the long-term, we aim to achieve 100 million units in annual sales volume, keeping in mind the global game hardware installation base with a focus on the PC platform. In aiming for 100 million units in annual sales, we will continue to expand our development pipeline in order to steadily release high-quality new titles that will contribute to earnings continuously going forward.
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Regarding their media business:
Q: Beyond licensing, tell me what you hope to achieve with in-house production of motion pictures in the Media business.

A: With the recent adoption of streaming services, the distribution channels for movies, television series, etc. have increased. By leveraging our Media business, it has become possible now to globally grow awareness of a game’s universe or brand. Going forward we will strengthen our brands and expand our annual sales volume by actively working on our Media business in conjunction with selling game software.
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Regarding their digital sales strategy:
Q: Tell me about your digital marketing strategy for future sales expansion.

A: We are analyzing user demand by region, including factors such as price sensitivity, based on the global sales data we’ve collected via digital sales. Additionally, we want to bring our games to even more customers around the world by taking full advantage of synergies with our Media business.
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Regarding the importance of the PC platform:
Q: What do you view as important in growing unit sales globally?

A: With its large global install base, we believe carrying out support for the PC platform is important. We will continue to grow unit sales and our user base by pursuing expansion on each platform, including the PC.
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Regarding plans for utilizing dormant IP:
Q: What plans do you have for utilizing your dormant IP?

A: We are currently putting together plans for our pipeline based on demand data from the market. Going forward, we will continue to take customers’ wishes into consideration while devising our title lineup.
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Prediction on the market 10 years from now:
Q: What is your outlook for the video game market 10 years from now, and what sort of technology will you require to address this future environment?

A: We believe that in the market 10 years from now, content that utilizes virtual game spaces will be popular, with more real and active communication between players being carried out there. We will continue to closely monitor user demand while pursuing research for developing high-quality content that can capitalize on virtual spaces.
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Regarding growing the PC user base:
Q: You have stated that you believe PC to be an important platform. What measures do you have planned to grow your PC user base?

A: While producing high-quality content is a given, we believe that pursuing the Media business in parallel to game software sales will be effective in further raising brand awareness with users globally. We look to expand our PC user base by working to enhance brand value through the synergetic effects of games and movies.
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Regarding future organizational structure for increasing workforce:
Q: What are your thoughts regarding future organizational structure following the increase to your workforce?

A: While we currently carry out game development primarily in Development Division 1 and Development Division 2, we believe there may be room to expand our development organization in the future following further enhancement of our workforce.
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Dormant IPs coincide with the leak of Final Fight and Power Stone “remakes”

Don’t know if Dragons Dogma is considered a dormant IP. Its last title is from 2013, but was re-release on other consoles in 2017 (PS4, XOne) and 2019 (Switch).
 
Selling 100M SW per year sounds unrealistic for Capcom. IIRC Nintendo is the only publisher that has ever sold 100M+ SW per year, and that has only happened during the peak NDS/Wii and Switch heyday (i.e. right now).

Maybe they will be extremely aggressive with discounts and sales, but even then, selling 100M SW per year seems unlikely.
 
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Herb Alpert said:
Metaverse is almost a self fulfilling prophecy, the thing is literally being willed into existence...
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We'll see; there have been other major sea changes that corporations tried to will into existence (ubiquity of VR, ubiquity of game streaming, etc) that fell flat on their face

Lelouch0612 said:
Not necessarily, something like Fornite or even Animal Crossing would fit the description.
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You're right that it's not necessarily about the metaverse, but how likely do you think it is that they're talking about the social elements of Animal Crossing rather than the next big predicted sea change that the mega corporations are hyping each other up for?
 
awng782 said:
Selling 100M SW per year sounds unrealistic for Capcom. IIRC Nintendo is the only publisher that has ever sold 100M+ SW per year, and that has only happened during the peak NDS/Wii and Switch heyday (i.e. right now).

Maybe they will be extremely aggressive with discounts and sales, but even then, selling 100M SW per year seems unlikely.
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If you do like Sega and you count free downloads as sales it’s easy to do so
 
100M is just no feasible for Capcom. They would need more than twice the output of games that they have now, so unless they have rampant dev hiring planned its a pie in the sky estimate.

For reference, units sold in a year:
  • Playstation: 40-60M
  • SE: 50M
  • Capcom: 37M
 
enpleinjour said:
100M is just no feasible for Capcom. They would need more than twice the output of games that they have now, so unless they have rampant dev hiring planned its a pie in the sky estimate.

For reference, units sold in a year:
  • Playstation: 40-60M
  • SE: 50M
  • Capcom: 37M
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They are expecting their legacy titles to contribute for many many years, so every new games is adding to an ever increasing baseline.

Increasing output > increasing new titles sales + increasing catalogue sales > road to 100m/year.
 
awng782 said:
IIRC the only DLC whose sales they have ever counted is Monster Hunter World Iceborne. They will presumably count Sunbreak sales as well when it launches.
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Yeah, Sunbreak cost as much as a AA game. They should definitely count them as units sold, imo.
 
awng782 said:
IIRC the only DLC whose sales they have ever counted is Monster Hunter World Iceborne. They will presumably count Sunbreak sales as well when it launches.
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They count expansions like you mentioned , at the moment they only do expansions for MH but if they did for other franchises it would also be included . I also think this will be the future of their big franchises outside of SF (which follows a different style). Expansions of their big games that already have high userbase between the big releases of entries makes a lot of financial sense due to being ‘cheaper’ to produce and boosting catalog sales of the old game , reducing used sales and expands the ‘new game’ lifespan of their games. Making a game like MH:W is something hard to afford for Capcom that’s why they took the Sony deal in Asia , SFV deal with Sony and Nintendo one in MH:Rise case. Making the most money of these highly expensive games makes a lot of sense and for single player games expansions are the best way imo.
 
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