Jawmuncher
Member
The game really had quite a quiet launch honestly.
I was surprised to hear it came out to.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Capcom USA VP Disappointed By Darkstalkers Resurrection Sales
- Thread starter Takao
- Start date
The game really had quite a quiet launch honestly.
I was surprised to hear it came out to.
As long as they stick to an expansion model and stick to 3 IPs (DS, Vs., SF), they should be fine.
gutter_trash
Banned
Darkstalkers has always been niche in the West, plus it lacks unniversal appeal of classic Street Fighters
SixMachine
Member
I honestly think the Capcom PR department in general does a poor job. I know people would just glance at my avatar and expect me to say shit like that but I genuinely like games such as Dragon's Dogma and Ghost Trick. But a big problem is that you would never hear about these games unless you visit sites like Neogaf everyday, while a game like DmC you always see shit everywhere for. Which is weird since they stated DD to cost them a pretty penny but it feels like they didn't give it a good push, while it sounds like DmC was something that didn't sound too expensive to make and got a lot of publicity (I know it sold lower than every other entry in the DMC series but it sounded like they at least made money back if they still want Ninja Theory). I think Capcom has a lot of hidden gems but they don't give them all the momentum they need.
If there's a market for farming simulator, there's a market for anything. Do not underestimate the PC crowd. We play some old janky shit, and love it. I agree it's tough to sell and older game, but it will sell regardless of age.
Jawmuncher
Member
Like anything the biggets issue nowadays is budget.
Companies stubbornly want either low budget (digital games) or High Budget releases.
There's no room for a middle ground which is really dissapointing.
Middle ground now seems to be kickstarter.
scytheavatar
Member
The few million that kickstarters draw can be considered barely higher than low budget. Mid budget seems to be more something like Bravely Default or the Persona games. The type of non-indie games which you can call a success even with less than 1 million sales.
Karsticles
Member
What would be the point of that? He has said there's nothing happening. It's not like he'll let me in on a secret or something, haha.
I did tell him that I had $100 sitting on PSN for MvC3 character DLC that never came out, and it's still sitting there. I also told him that I would buy a "Fighters of Capcom" so long as it had MvC3-style gameplay.
Jawmuncher
Member
Apparently so, which is both good and kinda sad.
Professor Beef
Banned
Poor word of mouth regarding the netcode.
I think Capcom is at a cross roads with their fighting games. They don't want to put in the single player features of MK9 yet they want the sales that feature brings. If Capcom wants DS IV to be a big thing, they will have to invest money all the way through the project, and I don't see them doing that.
I agree they need more stuff for more casual players and people who just like to play the single player content. They need all the crazy stuff they had in alpha 3 or something. I remember playing edge master mode (or whatever the hell it was called) in SC1 and enjoying the hell out of it, way before I knew of the existence of the FGC. On the opposite end of the spectrum, they need better training mode stuff for people who are actually interested in the learning the game in a competitive sense. They're lacking in both areas.
Jawmuncher
Member
Yeah thinking about it now. Capcom definitely needs to work in all those areas.
SFxT looked packed at first but then you get in and realize just how empty it is.
Really? I was under the impression that it used ggpo type tech.
This is succinctly his I feel.
They need to deliver on the narratives/individual stories and make use of all that lore, which is also potentially richer than anything you can do with SF. Also CG cutscenes and endings for each character. Capcom just doesn't seem to be willing to make more assets for these things. I mean just look at how lazy the SFxTK endings are.
Hazzard4life
Member
Did they ever re-release X-Men vs SF even on XBLA or PSN? Last time I played that was on the Saturn
I don't think the assets are what Capcom is afraid of, it's the time & manpower (which ultimately means money) that they don't want to put into it because they think it would be a bad ROI.
I would say DSIV is a perfect for an MK9 style series reboot from Capcom, seeing as no cared about Resurrection. Give Japan an arcade release, a robust single player mode for the west with good netcode, and Darkstalkers is back on the fighting game radar, especially as Chris G continues to kill Marvel.
Professor Beef
Banned
Capcom doesn't have the license.
Also a shame, as I play exclusively in Japan on a JP account... connection is silky smooth 90% of matches.
MK9 did story better and has better lore than any Capcom game. MK chars just appeal better to Americans, who drive most of the console sales.
I just can't see Capcom coming up with something that good for SF, let alone DS.
The only other company that could is possibly Arcsys, but their chars are less appealing to Americans, who would prefer Johnny Cage to dude with twenty beltbuckles.
Star Falcon
Member
That and Children of the Atom are the only ones missing now i think. The Marvel Super Heroes/Marvel vs Capcom 1 collection is pretty decent port though.
Augemitbutter
Member
count me in for CvS2.
In Capcom's defense I think their expectation was based on the amount of fan requests they got for DS, they (we) have been lobbying for more DS for years. They also said upfront that sales for the re-release would be looked at, before committing to DS4. You can't really fault them for that.
If you want more DS, as in a new game, why not support the franchise you have been pestering Capcom about? Do you feel it's not your responsibility to support the series you so desperately want a sequel for? Or do you want to wait until infinity and then be upset that Capcom puts the kabosh on this entire plan? Sounds like great strategy. Something tells me that if the 3 "missing" characters would be present we would still be looking at the exact same numbers, saleswise.
Capcom has certainly made mistakes with MVC3 and SFXT, but in the end, who is going to complain when they don't release DS4? I'm pretty sure it won't be Capcom.
So, after all this, why should Capcom listen to their fans again? First. we bitch and moan about them forgetting about this franchise, then when they release a decent budget bundle, the majority doesn't buy it. Don't be surprised if the voice of the fans isn't heard in the future.
If you want more DS, as in a new game, why not support the franchise you have been pestering Capcom about? Do you feel it's not your responsibility to support the series you so desperately want a sequel for? Or do you want to wait until infinity and then be upset that Capcom puts the kabosh on this entire plan? Sounds like great strategy. Something tells me that if the 3 "missing" characters would be present we would still be looking at the exact same numbers, saleswise.
Capcom has certainly made mistakes with MVC3 and SFXT, but in the end, who is going to complain when they don't release DS4? I'm pretty sure it won't be Capcom.
So, after all this, why should Capcom listen to their fans again? First. we bitch and moan about them forgetting about this franchise, then when they release a decent budget bundle, the majority doesn't buy it. Don't be surprised if the voice of the fans isn't heard in the future.
Unspeakable Evil
Member
DSIV can come out on WiiU/PS4/720 in a couple of years. I'd buy it and they probably won't have memory issues like with MVC3.
NeonZ
Member
It was just another rerelease though. In fact, it was the third rerelease of DS3. It's not a new budget title, nor even the first rerelease of those games. In spite of being a perfect arcade port, it also lost some content compared to previous rereleases rather than just adding new features. I had already bought a DS3 rerelease, so I skipped this one.
Alcoholikaust
Member
had they HD-ified it, and had some assemblance of adverts on xbox dashboard/psn store more may have picked it up-
face it: fighting games are not what they were in the mid to late 90s, its an incredibly niche market
with Mk9, MvC3Ultimate, SSF4AE, heck even PA4 and others out, its hard to draw new gamers to your product
Personally I was hoping for a NEW Darkstalkers using the Street Fighter 4 criware(?) engine....on PC
face it: fighting games are not what they were in the mid to late 90s, its an incredibly niche market
with Mk9, MvC3Ultimate, SSF4AE, heck even PA4 and others out, its hard to draw new gamers to your product
Personally I was hoping for a NEW Darkstalkers using the Street Fighter 4 criware(?) engine....on PC
Why are the fans to blame? How is it logical that, if I don't want to buy a game I own already or played to death when it came out, I wouldn't want a new entry in the series? People keep citing these "fans," but how well did the series sell in the past? Is it a large amount? How well did other re-releases sell in comparison to the releases years ago? Wouldn't these types of projections better serve to predict how well a re-release would do? It doesn't take much for me to make a twitter account or go on capcom's forums and start talking about how amazing these games were a decade ago, but if the amount of people clamoring for a release doesn't match up with how well it sold in the past, maybe the company should do some basic math.
Consumers are not to blame when a company fails to meet expectations. All that says is that the company had unrealistic goals.
I feel like I've said that a lot in this thread. I don't know why anybody would place the blame for a product's failure on the "fans."
Don't get me wrong, I am not blaming the fans that have supported DS games in the past or present in any way. I even said that I understand reluctance to buy a game you already own. My comment is directed at those who have bombarded Capcom for a long time for DS games on the current platforms and some, if not most, of them might not even own any of the games offered in DSR.
Do I say that they are forced to buy old games? No, I don't. All I am saying is that if you don't put your money where your mouth is when you are given a decent budget title, don't be surprised/ insulted/ upset if Capcom decides not to invest millions in a new DS game, that's all.
Is the practice of "testing the waters" with a re-release just a moneygrab? Who knows? Might be, might not be, butI do understand it comes across as shady. Or maybe, just maybe people are still upset wih Capcom regarding their stance on MVC3 updates, SFXT and low sales are still part of that backlash.
If you think about it, Capcom hasn't seemed to be able to things right in the fans' eyes lately. I don't envy their position right now.
Do I say that they are forced to buy old games? No, I don't. All I am saying is that if you don't put your money where your mouth is when you are given a decent budget title, don't be surprised/ insulted/ upset if Capcom decides not to invest millions in a new DS game, that's all.
Is the practice of "testing the waters" with a re-release just a moneygrab? Who knows? Might be, might not be, butI do understand it comes across as shady. Or maybe, just maybe people are still upset wih Capcom regarding their stance on MVC3 updates, SFXT and low sales are still part of that backlash.
If you think about it, Capcom hasn't seemed to be able to things right in the fans' eyes lately. I don't envy their position right now.
I understand, but at the same time it's more than a little silly for a company to say, "Buy this old game you may have purchased several times already and we'll make a sequel to it."
Personally, I LOVE having these re-releases all on one console that I can play without worrying about controllers, but it's silly for Capcom to use old games to gauge interest in a new one. If that's the only metric, all we'll ever get is new SF games.
SolarPowered
Member
It's a tricky place to be in. New sprite art is hard to do right and we saw how people reacted with HDR. It also costs money and if we go by the most efficient (Lab Zero Games) then it is still quite the investment.
A Wii U port, PC port and redone sprites all cost money. They'd need a good justification to do anything past UI, GGPO implementation and unlockables. Making games is hard work and all about trade offs.
HoodWinked
Member
dark stalkers aint happening. basically.
Yeah, this sounds about right. I understand why they'd look at sales for this, but I don't think they should. If they're really that hesitant to invest the money to make it as big and awesome as it could be I'm just about to the point where I don't think it'd be worth it at all, go with the safe bet (SF5) and leave it alone. It's an all-or-nothing time in the industry, you go big or you go home.
Painful as it may be, DS4 should probably be put on the shelf, if only for a while.
Or get a Kickstarter going, for fuck's sake ;P
Yeah. Like if a japanese company would do that. Where's the honor?