With Capcom bringing back some of its older IPs with upcoming projects like the Okami sequel and brand new Onimusha game, the studio has still left franchises like Devil May Cry and Ace Attorney behind. In its new financial report, however, Capcom has said that it wants to “nurture” some of its classic IPs, like Mega Man, Devil May Cry, Onimusha, Okami, and Ace Attorney with “sequels, remakes, ports, etc.”
As part of its plans, Capcom wants to make more use of the franchises its own with content outside of games, like the Devil May Cry animated adaptation, new amusement equipment, and arcade operations, among other things. Along with this, the company is also making use of pricing strategies and catalogue sales to further boost awareness of its games so that it can then make new entries.
Interestingly, while franchises like Dead Rising and Dragon’s Dogma are also included in its presentation slide, some of the company’s older IPs, like the classic Breath of Fire RPG franchise, fighting game series Darkstalkers, or dinosaur-themed survival horror franchise Dino Crisis, seemingly remain missing from these plans.
Capcom COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto had previously spoken about bringing these classic franchises back, while also maintaining a focus on the company’s trio of core IPs – Street Fighter, Resident Evil, and Monster Hunter.
“To improve our chance of success, we are working to resolve business challenges, issue by issue,” wrote Tsujimoto in his statement. “Our efforts are focused on core IP such as the Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, and Street Fighter franchises, and mapping out mainline series entries and sequels, remakes, new IP, and ports of content to the latest hardware. We consistently release two to three major new titles each year, but recognize the need to grow our pipeline going forward.”
“Capcom owns a wealth of globally popular brands, such as Mega Man, Devil May Cry, and Ace Attorney. We aim to expand our user base and improve our performance through new releases, remakes, and ports of titles in these series to new hardware. By enhancing brand power and cultivating loyal fan bases, we will grow these into core IPs.”
The last entry in the Devil May Cry franchise was 2019’s Devil May Cry 5, which saw the franchise return after an 11-year break, not counting 2013’s DmC: Devil May Cry, following up on 2008’s Devil May Cry 4. The newest entry picked up where its predecessor left off, bringing back Nero as one of the playable characters alongside Dante, as well as introducing a brand new character, V, who plays an integral role in the story. The title also got a Special Edition upgrade that brought in Vergil as a playable character, complete with his own moveset and iconic theme song.
Okami, on the other hand, is getting a new game. However, according to Clovers president and CEO Kento Koyama, this new game is “still ways off”.
“Although the release is still a ways off, we cannot wait to get the finished game into your hands,” he said in a New Year’s message. “We will continue to work tirelessly this year to deliver an experience that surpasses the expectations of players all over the world.”