While many might believe that Capcom has been so focused on its big IPs in recent times like Resident Evil and Monster Hunter, that the company might have left classic franchise Mega Man behind. However, in a recent shareholders Q&A, the company reaffirmed that it still sees Mega Man as one of its most important IPs.
When asked about the company’s plans for the Mega Man franchise going forward, the company noted that, while it can’t provide any additional information at this time, it still sees great value in the classic side-scrolling series. It did, however, confirm that it is looking at ways to further develop it.
“The Mega Man series is one of our most important IPs, and we are continuously considering ways to develop it further,” said the company when asked about its plans for the IP. “However, we do not have any additional information we can share at this time.”
In answering another question, Capcom also noted that it has seen quite a few inquiries when it came to merchandise related to Mega Man, especially in overseas markets outside of Japan. “While we do not disclose individual sales figures by IP, we receive a particularly high volume of inquiries about the Mega Man series from overseas markets,” the company explained. “We will continue to focus on expanding this business further.”
Mega Man is largely considered to be a dormant franchise because the last mainline entry was Mega Man 11 in 2018. Since then, the company’s efforts surrounding the franchise have largely revolved around making the back catalogue of Mega Man games playable on modern systems through remasters.
Interestingly, the company had spoken about Mega Man being an important IP for it last year as well in a similar way. In a shareholders meeting from July 2024, the company had similarly stated that “Mega Man is one of our highly-valued IPs and we are considering how to create games for it on an ongoing basis.”
It is worth noting, however, that the Mega Man franchise has still remained largely dormant. The most recent release was a remaster compilation of the Mega Man Battle Network series. So far, the company has seemed unsure of how to modernize the side-scroller for today’s audiences.
Back in 2023, the company had spoken about how it was still looking into how it can develop new games in the franchise. Along with gameplay, the company was also seemingly looking at new concepts, ideas, and other aspects.
Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection, which came out back in 2023, has proven to be quite successful for the company in the meantime. It was confirmed in April 2023 that the collection had already sold more than 1 million copies. For more details, check out our review, where we gave it a score of 7 out of 10.
