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Capcom layoffs, Senior VP Christian Svensson voluntarily leaves

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
But what is "enough" copies? Sven expressed that Capcom wasn't really satisfied with AA:I's sales despite how it sold inline with almost every other game in the series (and they skipped out on AA:I2 anyway).

You're right, we don't know the amount of copies that Capcom consider "satisfying", although I remember Sven himself talking about an "aggressive" forecast. It's a digital title, I think/hope they're realistic about it. Being priced not as much as retail titles will help, though.

About AA:I2, probably DS piracy had a role too.
 

Mondriaan

Member
The support he got from Capcom Japan, Sven might as well have been on the moon. Caught between a rock(man) and a hard place indeed. Sven, you were a legend.
 

GhaleonQ

Member
Hey Sven, since I know you're reading this, I always thought you did the best job you could and the bulk of the criticism directed to you seemed to be a result of the fact that as an American executive for a Japanese company you were frequently caught between a rock and a hard place in terms of having to do your bosses' bidding while simultaneously being the public face for some unpopular calls. Best of luck finding a new gig.

Mmmmm. That's 90-percent truth. I certainly didn't envy his spot, though.

Good luck to them, sincerely. For our sake, FOCUS, Capcom. Yeesh.
 

Hero

Member
I guess it would be attitude and disrespect if you were one of the morons he countered with logic and reason.

The fuck is this? Look, I'm not saying he's a bad person but over the years he's clearly done a lot of things, both good and bad in Capcom's name. The infamous "test game" meme is pretty much because of how many times he said that if fans wanted X then they should buy Y first to prove it.
 

Nyoro SF

Member
The fuck is this? Look, I'm not saying he's a bad person but over the years he's clearly done a lot of things, both good and bad in Capcom's name. The infamous "test game" meme is pretty much because of how many times he said that if fans wanted X then they should buy Y first to prove it.

The reason why he said that is because that's how the higher ups at Capcom actually think. They look directly at sales of corresponding titles.

Ono corroborated this in an interview when he began petitioning for SF4's creation.

So it's the truth... I guess it's one no one wanted to hear.
 

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
I'm not too disappointed as some of the just... well lets call them, frankly unacceptable bendings of the truth, made him a figurehead for my disgust with Capcom.

But, this speaks to a pretty concerning time for Capcom. They are losing a fucking ton of money all because they took Inafune's insanity so literally they've shitbombed franchises like DMC, Lost Planet, Resident Evil, and now seemingly Dead Rising into the garbage chasing western influences for whatever reason, all while rubbing their hardcores noses in shit with debacles like Megaman Legends 3 and all that fucking on-disc DLC.

Theres still talent there, Dragon's Dogma, Monster Hunter, and quirky stuff like Ghost Trick prove it. But good lord did they go from hero to zero this past gen. The whole company needs big changes, not just making the US arm a convenient scapegoat.
 

Mr. X

Member
Resident 1, 2, 3, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, DMC3 were on PC.



And that's why I said it's hard and sad, and why CAPCOM is just a shadow of the great company it was.

You were able name 5 games from PS2 Gen and earlier.

They release 20+ games from this gen on PC, thanks to Sven's pushing.
 

Ushojax

Should probably not trust the 7-11 security cameras quite so much
It's so sad what happened to Capcom. They had done of the greatest designers if all time but now they're all gone and only a deranged manchild with a Blanka fetish remains.
 
Hey Sven, since I know you're reading this, I always thought you did the best job you could and the bulk of the criticism directed to you seemed to be a result of the fact that as an American executive for a Japanese company you were frequently caught between a rock and a hard place in terms of having to do your bosses' bidding while simultaneously being the public face for some unpopular calls. Best of luck finding a new gig.

With a few unfortunate exceptions (possibly lying about AAI1/Okamiden sales to justify not localizing AAI2), this is my read on him as well. Best wishes to him.

Next few years for Capcom are going to be rough, what with them still pretending to investors that DmC and Dragon's Dogma were successes.
 
Look, I'm not saying he's a bad person but over the years he's clearly done a lot of things, both good and bad in Capcom's name. The infamous "test game" meme is pretty much because of how many times he said that if fans wanted X then they should buy Y first to prove it.

Said proof of people buying the game was probably the only ammo he ever had in regards to getting shit approved by the Capcom higher ups. Even people like Ono and (when he was still there) Inafune corroborated that getting projects greenlit was a pain in the ass over there.
 
J

Jotamide

Unconfirmed Member
You were able name 5 games from PS2 Gen and earlier.

They release 20+ games from this gen on PC, thanks to Sven's pushing.

He even got Street Fighter Alpha 2 on GOG.

On GOG.
 

Mr. X

Member
The fuck is this? Look, I'm not saying he's a bad person but over the years he's clearly done a lot of things, both good and bad in Capcom's name. The infamous "test game" meme is pretty much because of how many times he said that if fans wanted X then they should buy Y first to prove it.

You can't handle the truth?
 

FourMyle

Member
The fuck is this? Look, I'm not saying he's a bad person but over the years he's clearly done a lot of things, both good and bad in Capcom's name. The infamous "test game" meme is pretty much because of how many times he said that if fans wanted X then they should buy Y first to prove it.

Thanks for proving his point.
 

Sylver

Banned
You were able name 5 games from PS2 Gen and earlier.

They release 20+ games from this gen on PC, thanks to Sven's pushing.

Yeah I can't deny this (I neither pretend this) but it's just the actual market, and Steam thing, many companies are taking this way. I never imagine a game like Naruto and a company like Namco Bandai or SEGA would have been on PC, and you see... this will be released soon.
 

Savitar

Member
I believe Sven fought the good fight as much as he could while being handicapped by the Japanese side of things, only so much he could do and if told to do something he had to do it. Must be quite frustrating in so many ways which is why I'm sure he was ready to leave before this.
 

Sadist

Member
Best of luck to Sven and all the others.

I agree with Stump on Sven. I've visited the Capcom boards a few times and he comes across as a nice guy, but was restricted a lot by Capcom Japan. I still remember things like the Resident Evil Archives releases. Somebody asked if those games would come to the west and Sven said they had no interest in bringing those games to the US/EU. Three days later, Capcom announced the western release.
 

Thoraxes

Member
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, Sven.

You did a good job putting up with a lot of the bullshit from us and the people you worked for, and I don't know how responsible you were for us getting AA5, but i'd just really like to thank you for that and MH3U as of recent. Good luck dude.
 
Glad for him he left.

Must be a shitty ass job at capcom with almost zero influence and getting shat on by the community all the time.

You'd think a senior vp role would net you some pull, but instead you see him on the internet begging people to start petitions and what not for even the simplest 'obvious' stuff.

Not to say his enthusiasm wouldn't be missed. Hope he nets a better job than this!




Now back to digging the grave of Ace Attorney games in the west after 5.
 
Don't know if this has been posted in full yet (if so, shoot me). Here's Svensson's full departing post via his G+. Sounds like he has something else already lined up.

While it comes as something of a relief, today is bittersweet. After nearly eight years, it is my final day at Capcom.

This departure is not a bad thing for me and it’s happening mostly because I’d suggested it during the early planning for today’s reorg. While I wish the company the best of luck, Capcom is going in a different direction and the need for people at my level, relative to other areas, is lacking. Those who know me well, know that I’ve been ready to go for quite some time.

That said, I’m grateful for the opportunities Capcom has afforded me. I stayed as long as I did in large part for the potential I felt the company had (and still may have). But I also stayed for the people.

I’ve worked alongside extremely talented and passionate folks in nearly every office we have. There are far too many to name but I really want to thank them all for the time we spent in the trenches together. I have truly enjoyed working with each and every one of you and would jump at the chance to do so again in the future.

We tried some things that worked. We tried others that didn’t. We fought fights that were worth fighting and even won a few. I'm proud of what we accomplished.

I’ve had the opportunity to interface with the best fans any company could ever hope to have. I know that I wasn’t always able to deliver what they wanted, but I promise that I did my best to champion their needs and wants. So “thank you” to the fans who made my job rewarding, challenging, and, if nothing else, interesting.

But enough about the past. What’s next?

In the near term, here’s where I need your help. Sadly, I’m not the only one affected by the reorganization today. Over the next few days, I’ll be gathering resumes from as many as I can and will be sending them out to my contacts around the industry to see if there’s a “love connection” to be made.

At the same time, if your company is hiring in one of these areas, please let me know via FB message; doing so might save some time for all concerned.

As for my future, I’ve got a few interesting opportunities from a variety of sectors in the gaming market already lined up for consideration. About the only thing they have in common is that the level of authority will be more in-line with the levels of responsibility than I’ve had the last several years and they all have the potential to disrupt the gaming space in exciting ways.

That’s all I’m willing to say for now. I’ll have more news to share after decompressing for a couple weeks, seeing some family and playing some games. I still need to finish The Last of Us and thankfully, GTAV is just around the corner. :)
 
Man that's a real shame. Sven did the best he could and I appreciate that. Hope everyone lands on their feet soon.

Isn't Combofiend working for Capcom too? I hope he's alright as well.
 

FourMyle

Member
Was expecting more like this actually. Surprised so many people here actually understood the difficulty of his position.

I think everyone should read that interview with Ono regarding his health problems and how capcom treated him. It is an amazing interview and gives a lot of insight into how Capcom JP likes to run their ship.
 

Carbonox

Member
Heh, surprised he's stuck around this long. He's a nice guy though, I've gone out drinking with him a couple of times in the past. Never agreed with everything he's had to say though.
 

koryuken

Member
Allofmyno.gif

Maybe CAPCOM offload the development of DmC2 to the developers of Rambo, the video game!

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=619261

2dnIi2x.jpg
 

Gartooth

Member
I think everyone should read that interview with Ono regarding his health problems and how capcom treated him. It is an amazing interview and gives a lot of insight into how Capcom JP likes to run their ship.

One thing it will do is make you incredibly cynical about the future of the company. They have no care for their employees and think they can do just fine without the people who made them what they are.

The board is also completely out of touch with the business they are in, they have no passion or care about video games and no clue about game design, which I think was the reason behind Inafune's frustration and why he probably left the company.
 

IntelliHeath

As in "Heathcliff"
I always dont get it when people were hating on Sven. They should blame Capcom Japan instead of Sven.

Without Sven, I'm very concerned about Capcom and their business decision-making for their american business.

I wish Sven the best.
 
Good.

Capcom will need less people to develop those AAA next gen games everyone wants on PS4 and Xbone.



Wait..


That doesn't make sense at all.
 
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