Capcom done with Western devs

By Robert Purchese Published 4 January, 2010

Japan will make all new IP, says boss.

Disenchanted with long-distance relationships, Capcom has decided to develop all major new game IP at home in Japan. Company president Haruhiro Tsujimoto said he would drop Western studios entirely if there weren't so many games to make with so few resources.

"Our experience with Bionic Commando has demonstrated the difficulty of outsourcing the development of new titles to overseas companies," said Tsujimoto over Christmas, reported by Kotaku.

"Nevertheless, we cannot develop a sufficient number of titles without using the resources of these companies. This is why we plan to continue using these alliances.

"We are considering ways to separate the roles of activities in Japan and overseas," he added. "We plan to develop new titles primarily in Japan. Overseas companies may be used mostly to develop titles for existing game series with well-established characters and universal themes. Overseas companies will also handle certain parts and/or line-ups of such games."

Swedish studio GRIN, maker of Bionic Commando, closed in August last year because of an "unbearable cashflow situation". BC was released in May but had little impact either critically or commercially.

Tsujimoto becomes the second high-profile Capcom 'name' to condemn a Japan-West collaboration in recent weeks; Lost Planet and Resident Evil maker Jun Takeuchi said "cultural differences" did not allow for "smooth" partnerships.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (38) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Quint2020 #1 2 years ago

    I think we all saw that one coming, especially with all the rumblings about what a crock of shit Dark Void is looking to be, shame really as both Dark Void and Bionic Commando looked to have a lot of potential.
    Edited by 1 at 04/01/10 @ 09:53

  • convercide #2 2 years ago

    I liked Bionic Commando. :(

  • menage #3 2 years ago

    Dead Rising 2 is getting some favorable previews in Edge though, so that might be worthwhile

    Dark Void looked great a year ago. Until it started to look like every generic shooter out there now. Should have stayed Rocketeer.

  • optimusprym8 #4 2 years ago

    well after a statement like that, the relationships with Western studios is going to be even worse, well done.

    time for a statement from Western devs stating what a nightmare it is working with Eastern devs to counterbalance. Having worked for an EU arm of a Korean company for many years, I can say it isn't a pleasurable experience!

  • photoboy #5 2 years ago

    To be perfectly honest, I thought Lost Planet 1 was bland, Dead Rising 1 massively flawed and Resident Evil 5 a complete mess. So Capcom Japan aren't exactly doing their best work at the moment either. RE5 in particular was a massive fail after the sheer brilliance of RE4.

    I actually quite liked Bionic Commando, it just needed a few more checkpoints and some difficulty balancing to turn it into a fairly decent game. It seemed like it was rushed out to me, which would be Capcom Japan's fault.

    Hopefully Dead Rising 2 will fix all the flaws of DR1, although being a sequel following a template set by the Japanese might mean there's not a lot of freedom to change things. If DR2 fails Capcom can always blame the Western devs again...
    Edited by 1 at 04/01/10 @ 10:21

  • apolloscollapse #6 2 years ago

    I also enjoyed Bionic Commando, twas just a little rough around the edges. I agree with this statement anyway, there is a certain appeal and quirkiness to Japanese developed games that you just don't get with Western studios. If Japan stopped making games we'd all be stuck playing COD and Fifa.

  • Evolution #7 2 years ago

    Don't worry Capcom, you can always fall back on re-releasing your current games over and over again with little increase in value.

  • metalangel #8 2 years ago

    I assume they're keeping devs outside of Japan so all their games set in the West look authentic and not what some sake-addled Japanese developer scribbled on a karaoke bar napkin as "what the West really looks like".

  • mcmonkeyplc #9 2 years ago

    Communcation problems?! Fucking hell this is the 21st century. SORT IT OUT. Dont just run away. How about they actually buy up studios and place them under the control of "Capcom Europe" or heaven forbid set up your own studios instilling your values into YOUR staff.

    Yeah it costs more but you'll probably get more out of them YOU CHEAP FUCKS!

  • menage #10 2 years ago

    Jeez, some people are getting too worked up about this

  • rock27gr #11 2 years ago

    Hmmmm.

    Nintendo doesn't seem to be doing too bad with outsourcing games to western studios...

  • bad09 #12 2 years ago

    Erm, didn't some top bloke from Capcom turn round and say Japanese game development is dead and they need to look at the west a couple of months ago?

    So the word is that Rocketeer meets clone wars...er sorry Dark Void is poo? Shame, it looked pretty interesting. As for Bionic Commando what did they expect, from day one I thought that one was best left in the past, guess everyone else agreed...

    LOL @ boneparteofballybay. Gotta agree there it's not just the west doing crap for Capcom! TBH as long as RE6 is a COMPLETE overhaul of the horrid arcade reboot of 4/5, I couldn't care less if it's made by illegal immigrant moon men.

  • Concrete #13 2 years ago

    I really enjoyed Bionic Commando . . probably the only thing from Capcom for a fair old while (with the exception of SF4) that I have got into.

  • klem578 #14 2 years ago

    @ Photoboy : Do you actually like any games dude ? You know , besides MW2 and GTA ones...
    Also, your taste doesn't equal everybody else's , so...

    Resi 5 a mess? Wow ...

    Lost planet bland ? The game which throws at you some of the most imaginative and huge bosses of the last couple of years ? It's obviously a throw back at the old games (shooty ones) of yore...

    Dead rising flawed ? Guess you like games on auto-pilot then , must be real "hard" to play games that don't hand-hold you all the time , don't tell me , you thought the save system was shit too , right ?

    Don't know , if people keep thinking like this , gaming in the next couple of years is going to be comprised only of "i shoot you online in the head" and "look ma' i'm moving my hands in front of the telly"...

  • fknetwork #15 2 years ago

    Capcom are shit these days anyway, nothing decent has been released by them for ages, I for one hope Capcom goes under for making such stupid remarks about western developers.....

  • menage #16 2 years ago

    What a load of bullshit. Capcom is actually doing pretty cool stuff comparted to some other JP devs. The new games look pretty sweet.

  • GamesConnoisseur #17 2 years ago

    Dead Rising save system was the whole point of redoing game over and over until you found a neat route via different optional or mandatory key points and get buffed up from all the while regardless.

    I wondered how they ll do sequel save differently?! I also wonder if those who dislike the one done save system views Demon's Soul crazy hard game with thousand deaths equally distastefully too harsh?!

    I used to play fps on pc with quick save every min or so! That ruined games I tell you!

  • GamesConnoisseur #18 2 years ago

    Dead Rising save system was the whole point of redoing game over and over until you found a neat route via different optional or mandatory key points and get buffed up from all the while regardless.

    I wondered how they ll do sequel save differently?! I also wonder if those who dislike the one done save system views Demon's Soul crazy hard game with thousand deaths equally distastefully too harsh?!

    I used to play fps on pc with quick save every min or so! That ruined games I tell you!

  • merkdot #19 2 years ago

    I'd forgotten that there were still Japanese publishers out there.

  • mingster #20 2 years ago

    How velly rude!

  • makeamazing #21 2 years ago

    Lost in translation? As someone else said, if you have problems, just send someone in to sort them out, or are they saying they are incapable of working remotely without speaking to or communicating with for long periods of time :) Very strange indeed.

  • Skooch #22 2 years ago

    "Japan will make all new IP, says boss."

    ...and this is why Capcom games will always be good, but not great.

  • Bazfrag #23 2 years ago

    They finally woke up and smelled the coffee.

  • stevetuck #24 2 years ago

    Maybe they should of made a game that would sell?

  • gjgjg #25 2 years ago

    way to motivate your counter parts!

    i cant help but think the JP have a very narrow and intensively hard working approach while western studios would be more flexible and adaptable but ...'lazier' - not meant in a bad way...

    personally im not all that keen on JP style crazy hair and nonsense characters, so the new IPs wont be for me anyway. (before i get neg'd note i used to be in charge of Manga imports for a dvd company - so i used to love it)
    Id hate to think what Bionic commando would have been like with an ott Japanese theme rather than a ott American one. The former being annoying and the later just being dumb fun.



  • Hunam #26 2 years ago

    Dark Void is shit confirmation. Thought it wasn't much cop at the expo myself.

  • Gunwing #27 2 years ago

    Well not to inflame my UK pears but the Japanese have been this way with western developers for years and years. It's interesting to me that only the third party Japanese developers have this problem. Sega has expressed this in the past as well, and so did Cap com, other companies like Square Enix had the same problems not too long ago. It's not a cultural difference like the developers claim, it's an unwilling to learn a new thing idea that even people in the US suffer from. The route of this problem may never be sighted by the experts but all Humans from all lands know what the problem is.

    We all grow up hearing how our land is the best, and our people are the brightest, we all grow up learning that the UK/US, or in Capcom's place Japan is the best place in the world........ That is until we step out side and start reading books and find out that all people are equal, and that our race was not, and never was perfect. No matter where we come from. The Japanese are no exception in this, and by no means are the US, or UK ether. We all suffer this on different levels. But it's hard to overcome this problem and for a developer to not admit they have this problem is not a true sign of progress.

  • andywilkie35 #28 2 years ago

    I just hope Dead Rising 2 is as good as its looking to be. Bionic Commando was a shower of shit but as it was from GRIN obviously that's irrelevant to Dead Rising 2. Was still shit though.

  • FenderMaster #29 2 years ago

    i like how Capcom assumes that just because it's partnerships didn't work out, that Japan-Western developer co operation isn't a good idea... maybe capcom are forcing their archaic western game mechanics into the more progressive western action game? eh?

    i tend to see western game as a touch fresher, where new ideas are embraced, but maybe games aren't as polished, and japanese games as maybe more backwards, but polished to the nth degree. combine these and you get fresh ideas, and polished gme mechanics... or buggy unfinished backwards throwbacks that should have stayed in the oven a bit longer....

  • monkfishjoe #30 2 years ago

    Ok, so Capcom has had some quality issues with Western partners, but 6 months ago they were banging on about how important it was to partner with Western developers and now they've ditched them all. Yay! Nice one Capcom, another decision with the genius levels of ditching the Clover guys...

  • gorf #31 2 years ago

    was only 5-10 years ago when a formats sucess was dependant on the presence of Konami, Capcom and Square who turned out the best stuff at the time. Its become apparent that Western devlopment has eclipsed that of Japan in recent years even producing stuff equaling the quality Nintendos. Japan output seems stale by comparison, who seem incapable/or scared to evolve there existing franchises to compete.
    I honestly cant remember when I last played a Japanese devloped game. Shame.

    Edited by 2 at 04/01/10 @ 19:28

  • rogueJT #32 2 years ago


    Bionic Commando was the most underrated game of 2009, that I played anyway.

    Granted the plot was tripe but it had awesome gameplay.

  • miiiguel #33 2 years ago

    RE5 in particular was a massive fail

    One thing is to say that you didn't like, the other is to say it was a "massive fail", when it was not, not comercially nor among the media. Or was is just overeacting to make a point?

  • Ranger101 #34 2 years ago

    Interestingly, Capcom's relationship (specifically Capcom USA) with Sirlin's company in producing SSF2T HD Remix proved to be successful. But I supposed since it's not a new Franchise, it doesn't count.

    Of course it's partly xenophobia, but it's probably also frustration - the GRIN guys were northern European, a culture known for it's strictness and specificity, whereas the Japanese production arm communicating with them may have been a little more abstract in description - hence the lost in translation effect.

    GRIN did a fantastic job, again in a remake with BC:Rearmed.

  • muscleblade #35 2 years ago

    I actually loved Grins Bionic Commando. Old school in a good way. The music and atmosphere was amazing.

  • solidSnake04 #36 2 years ago

    hmmmm not good...

  • VMerken #37 2 years ago

    I sincerely hope the guy isn't trying to tell us something about Dead Rising 2...

  • BUSHIDO_PUNK #38 2 years ago

    When they have video games such as Street Fighter IV on the to do list I don't think production value is the first thing on Capcom's minds, and in fact I strongly doubt it nonetheless had anything to do with their present frustration aimed at Western developers. Come on Capcom, you've obviously been taking bad directions for profit by encouraging Western developers to act bigoted when they are given orders to re-make crappy classics by telling them to keep the same last century formulas for each of them.

    The garbage aside, the Western community had done an exceptionally beautiful, beautiful job on Resident Evil 5 in almost every possible way, which really makes me wonder what the president's rationale actually is for such an attitude.
    Edited by 2 at 06/01/10 @ 02:58