According to a tweet from Japanese gaming market analyst Serkan Toto, CAPCOM stock hit an all-time high record on Monday at 4,865 yen. CAPCOM shares started the day at 4,780 and are now slightly down at 4,840, representing a 2.22% increase. The chart shows that, thanks to a long run of profitable game releases, the Japanese publisher and developer has been mostly on a roll over the past few years.
In 2016, CAPCOM released the Resident Evil Origins Collection, a rather shoddy compilation of Resident Evil and Resident Evil Zero remasters; Street Fighter V, which was aimed at revolutionising the fighting game genre but largely fell short due to a lack of single-player content and subpar online multiplayer performance; Umbrella Corps, a drab third-person shooter that even the Resident Evil IP couldn’t save from receiving harsh criticism; all led to the gamers starting to loose hope in the studio.
Resident Evil VII: Biohazard, which is largely credited with reigniting CAPCOM’s creativity, was released in early 2017 and marked the beginning of the renowned developer’s meteoric rise. The creators took a risk by switching the playstyle and setting of their highly regarded survival horror IP.
For the first time in the series, players controlled a regular guy instead of a trained police officer or member of the special forces who, while desperately searching for his missing wife, finds himself trapped in a nightmare in a godforsaken, hot Louisiana location. The decision to switch to a first-person perspective instead of a third-person camera increased the tension.
Even the failure of Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite couldn’t stop the momentum created by the game’s successful sales and praise as the developer’s return to form.
Then, in the beginning of 2018, CAPCOM discovered an even bigger golden goose with Monster Hunter: World, which eventually surpassed all previous releases by the Japanese developer in terms of sales. The franchise was previously only well-liked in Japan, but World greatly improved its accessibility and acceptability to Western audiences.
The Resident Evil 4 remake, which recently sold over three million copies in just two days since its release, is last but by no means least. Resident Evil 2, Devil May Cry 5, Resident Evil 3, Monster Hunter Rise, Resident Evil Village, and Resident Evil Village are also included in the list.
In the future, Street Fighter 6 is ready to save even the venerable fighting series, at least based on early reviews. On the other hand, Exoprimal, the following CAPCOM game, might not be as well received. However, the Japanese publisher was astute enough to use Microsoft’s funding from the start to partially insulate itself from the risk.
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