Capcom’s Recent Wii Comments a Bit Out of Line

Capcom’s Recent Wii Comments a Bit Out of Line

Jan 06

With what can only be described as poor sales so far for their new Wii game, Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles, Capcom has apparently grown a bit frustrated with their attempts to target Wii owners properly. In an interview with Gamekult.com, Capcom France President Antoine Seux had this to say: ‘…This year the Wii was very difficult with an oversupply of new games, and a gamer market that has radically changed. We note that the so-called “gamers games” are selling less and less on the Nintendo Console…’

On one hand it is surprising that this Resident Evil game has not sold well so far on the Wii, since the Resident Evil 4 port and Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles both sold over a million copies on Wii. But on the other hand, Capcom, while they have the right to be frustrated, unfortunately does not see the main reasons for their plight.

Had this been a Resident Evil 5 port, even (insultingly) a year late, would it have sold poorly? Had a port of Resident Evil 5 been ready for the Wii audience at the same time as the HD editions would it have sold poorly on Wii? Probably not.

What Capcom fails to realise is that Wii owners (re)bought Resident Evil 4 Wii for two reasons.

1. To try out an awesome game with updated and superior controls.

2. To show Capcom that there was an audience for Resident Evil games.

With Umbrella Chronicles, gamers bought the game more for the second reason. They put their money where their mouth was. Yet, they paid for it since Capcom still refuses to treat ‘Gamers games’ on Wii with the same quality and respect that their releases on the HD consoles have.

Many are quick to jump on the negative bandwagon in gaming circles and say ‘See! There’s no ‘Hardcore’ audience on the Wii. But they know in their heart of hearts that they themselves wouldn’t dare spend their hard earned money to have another on rails shooter shoved down their throats. Why should Wii gamers lap it up? They in good faith reached out to Capcom with this franchise and Capcom has decided to burn them with an improper attitude toward them.

The relative limitations of the Wii are what they are. But several bottom line truths negate the so-called necessity of such second and third rate efforts.

1. The Wii is more powerful than the Game Cube.

Say what you will about the Wii’s relative lack of power, but the truth is, that Resident Evil 4 graphics still look pretty decent to this day. There is no necessity to make every Wii R.E. offering an on rails shooter.

2. The Wii uses a DVD as a software disk. The same as an Xbox 360, which manages large games in higher Resolutions. Again, there is no real excuse or necessity for these secondary efforts.

It’s as if the Wii owner/Capcom-Resident Evil relationship got to second base, then they took us back to first instead of ahead to third and complained when they got dumped. What did they really expect?

Now I understand that there have been other efforts by Capcom such as Dead Rising: Chop til you drop. But honestly, that game is horrible as compared to the original. They just don’t get that you can create the same proven gameplay on the Wii in a lower resolution and get results. There always has to be something left out, or something ridiculous added. They don’t understand, that it’s rather insulting to be offered less than what is normal, and yet be expected to give them the support of normal. They don’t understand that with some games, you just cannot achieve the perfect balance between new gamer and experienced gamer that games such as Super Mario Galaxy do.

When you target ‘Hardcore gamers’ with ‘Gamers games’ you’d best make sure that what you are giving them is your best effort. Capcom cannot rightfully claim to have done so very often with the Wii so far. Continued ports of old games, and second and third rate efforts will no longer fly. Especially during a worldwide economic downturn, where quality for your cash means everything. That, is the change in the market.