Capcom fighter classics novelty is wearing off, says exec

Capcom has noted lower sales of its recent classic fighter re-releases, which means its likely to hold off on releasing more for the present.

Writing on Capcom Unity, Capcom USA senior vice president Christian Svensson responded to complaints that the publisher isn't doing enough to re-release classic games in revamped form.

"Sadly, I think we've probably run the course of feasible titles here given the droppoff we've seen in sales with each new introduction," he said, noting existing releases of Street Fighter 2, Marvel vs Capcom 2, Darkstalkers and more.

"It seems the novelty of such projects is wearing off even within just the fighting game community based upon the sales data of our last two launches. That said, we have been quite prolific in these areas (despite the assertion above that we haven't) and it's probably time for us to slow down anyway."

Svensson noted that other kinds of re-release can be trickier. PSOne, PSP and PS2 games are often tied up by music, voice acting and middleware licenses; not every older game works with the emulators required for digital releases; and new IP arrangements often preclude re-releases.

As for current-gen releases, Capcom is planning to make all its disc-based games available via digital channels in the future, Svensson said, although it's not always possible for existing games.

"So in short, what we can bring to you in these forms, we are doing so. That doesn't mean everything will show up and to set expectations, I think you should prepare yourself that not every fighting game we've made will receive even one of these treatments," he concluded.

Thanks, Siliconera.