“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.”

To achieve these goals, Tsujimoto noted the number of decisions and initiatives that Capcom has started over the previous year. These include the construction of a new development facility in Osaka, which the company had announced all the way back in May. Along with this, he also spoke about bringing in more improvements to the company’s in-house RE Engine.

“Previously, we consolidated our game development in Osaka to promote efficiency, however, to further strengthen its structure, we are currently constructing a new development facility next to our head office, slated for completion in 2027. We have also acquired nearby land, with future expansion in mind. In addition, RE Engine, which supports our development capabilities, was developed in-house and is continually updated to keep up with new technologies and improve work efficiency,” he wrote.

The mention of Mega Man was noteworthy since, aside from releases of several remasters of the years, the franchise has been largely dormant since the release of Mega Man 11 all the way back in 2018. Capcom itself had noted back in July that the franchise is an important one for the company. At the time, however, it didn’t have “any additional information we can share at this time.”

Devil May Cry, on the other hand, saw its last major release in 2019 with Devil May Cry 5. 2020 also saw a small expansion made to the title with the release of its Special Edition. While Capcom hasn’t announced anything new for the franchise since then, public interest has likely risen in the meantime thanks to the animated series adapting the franchise on Netflix.

As for Ace Attorney, the last release for it was Ace Attorney Investigations Collection last year. There hasn’t been a brand new game in the franchise for quite some time, however, with the last mainline title being Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice back in 2016.

Capcom has recently sent out a survey to fans, in which it asks ten questions, a few of which are focused on potential new instalments (or remakes) for older, inactive Capcom properties. One question asks, “are there any Capcom game series (including spinoff games) that you would like to see get a sequel or new game?” Among many other franchises, some notable ones that are listed include Dino Crisis, Onimusha, Okami, Dead Rising, Darkstalkers, Breath of Fire, and Lost Planet.

Another question asks, “is there a game that you would like to see completely remade with the latest technology, including character design and story direction?” Some of the available options include Onimusha 1, 2, and 3; Ace Attorney 1, 2, and 3; Breath of Fire 1, 2, and 3; Mega Man 1, 2, and 3; and Final Fight.

Interestingly enough, the survey’s penultimate question asks about any other complaints that you would like to share with the company, with one of the options provided being “reboot old IPs already!” At the same time, another option reads “release more original titles, not sequels!”, so there’s that.

Capcom is, of course, no stranger to sending out surveys to gauge fan opinion on a number of things, and the company has been known to actually take results for such surveys into consideration- though how heavily they might influence decisions on, say, whether or not we’ll see a new Dino Crisis or Breath of Fire game is an altogether different question.

If nothing else, Capcom has confirmed that it intends to keep making more Resident Evil remakes, so the company does very much intend to plumb the depths of its rich back catalog to bolster its future output in some capacity.

How much longer are we going to be waiting for the next Ace Attorney game, then? The question to that answer remains unclear, but according to Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy producer Kenichi Hashimoto, the franchise is still very much in Capcom’s plans.

Speaking in a recent interview with Japanese outlet 4Gamer, when asked about the future of Ace Attorney, Hashimoto said (translation via Nintendo Everything), “At this time there is nothing to talk about, but we have gained a lot of knowledge about the RE Engine. I can say that the Ace Attorney series will not be stopping, so in that sense I think you can look forward to what is coming.”

How long it’ll be before Capcom is ready to unveil the next Ace Attorney game and what it will end up looking like remains to be seen, but clearly, series fans can take solace in the fact that, sooner or later, there will be a new Ace Attorney game.

Until then, you can look forward to Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy, which launches on January 25 for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

To commemorate that anniversary, Capcom has launched a special website. The 20th anniversary celebration website for the Ace Attorney series is now live, and details various planned events, tidbits about the series and its history, and a message from the development team.

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles launched earlier this year, bringing the Great Ace Attorney duology to the west at long last. It’s been a while since Capcom released a new game in the series though, so fans will be hoping for a new announcement in the not-too-distant future.

Capcom had already promised that Ace Attorney would migrate over to Nintendo’s Switch last year, but we have received little word on the series since. Now, Capcom has announced (translation via Court Records) an Ace Attorney panel for the Tokyo Game Show, which will last for a full 40 minutes.

The panel will be held on September 22, and Capcom is describing it as “unmissable” for series fans; presumably, that means that there will be at least one new game announced there, especially since Ace Attorney series producer Motohide Eshiro and game designer Shinsuke Kodama are both confirmed to be in attendance. For fans who have been waiting for the next major entry in the series, it figures that the event becomes a must-watch as a result. I personally know that I want to see how Ace Attorney leverages the Switch as it moves into the modern era.

The event will be held at 4pm JST, which translates to 3am Eastern Time, midnight Pacific, and 8am BST.

Metroid Prime 4

The infamous “reveal a name and generate hype” practice is seen in full form here. However, it is Metroid Prime 4, the long-awaited follow-up in the critically acclaimed franchise. There hasn’t been a proper sequel since 2007’s Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and given how Nintendo has been killing with its Switch releases, we can’t help but get excited. Rumours indicate Bandai Namco is developing the title, which isn’t too concerning given its history with games like Super Smash Bros on 3DS and Wii U.

With the Nintendo Switch coming, and seemingly having every major third party on board, one would expect Nintendo Switch versions of every major third party game on the market, too. So it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Capcom is looking into the feasibility of developing multiplatform games with a Nintendo Switch SKU, too.

“We are currently carrying out research with regards to multiplatform implementation of software for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One onto the Nintendo Switch,” Capcom said during its earning report.

“However, we do feel that there are differences in the desired direction and the play-style of the Nintendo Switch and those of the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. At Capcom, we determine which platform to release a title for after considering the features of both our software and the hardware in question, believing we must bring the enjoyment of our games to their maximum potential.

“As a software publisher, we endeavour to develop games that offer enjoyment best suited to each piece of hardware’s features and target users. Following first party, in order to introduce our own content we are currently moving forward with internal planning and analysis as a partner company.”

Capcom’s most successful software, currently, is Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Ace Attorney, and Monster Hunter– of these, the latter two have found a good home on Nintendo, and remain exclusive to it. If Capcom can work on bringing their multiplatform games, such as Resident Evil, to Nintendo’s system too, then it could become the go to destination for Capcom fans.