Lost Planet 2 "substantially underperformed" - Capcom

By Robert Purchese Published 29 July, 2010

Monster Hunter Tri sales "sluggish".

Capcom has revealed that Lost Planet 2 "underperformed its projection substantially", Monster Hunter Tri "grew at a sluggish pace" and Ghost Trick "struggled".

The comments come from a miserable financial report for the three month period ended 30th June. In it, Capcom's net income plummeted by 90.4 per cent to just 213 million yen compared to the same period last year.

Lost Planet 2 sold 1.5 million units globally during those three months, while Super Street Fighter IV sold 1.35 million units ("steady growth") and Monster Hunter Tri sold 690,00 units.

Monster Hunter Frontier Online also witnessed "steady growth". The game shipped 130,000 units on Xbox 360 in Japan in two weeks. That's not bad, given the paltry number of Xbox 360 owners in the region. The PC version of Monster Hunter Frontier Online will have a "major update" in September.

The financial document claimed European and US markets were "shrinking under the stagnating economy", which meant losing money to bad exchange rates, and "an increase in software development expenses" helped operating income plunge 72.6 per cent YOY.

Capcom will attempt to fix these numbers by "renovating" Japanese development and "updating" the overseas alliance model.

Capcom's also going to dive into the mobile market with a social Monster Hunter game.

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 (56) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • brseg #1 2 years ago

    Average games get average sales. News at 10 ;)

  • bemani #2 2 years ago

    I really enjoyed Lost Planet 2 once it got going (about a third of the way in). Four player co-op, tons of unlockables and the Gears duo made it even better! Hell, it's cheap as chips everywhere online now, so give it a go.

  • sonicyoda #3 2 years ago

    Well I liked Lost Planet 2 so there's no need to worry Capcom.

  • beastmaster #4 2 years ago

    I really enjoyed the SP campaign in the original LP. From the demos at the very least, I can safely say that I've never seen so detached from what was going on in the game.

  • Collymilad #5 2 years ago

    Loved LP, LP2 sucked balls.

    Last great game Capcom made was Dead Rising. I still love ya tho, Capcom :D
    Edited by 1 at 29/07/10 @ 15:22

  • cianchristopher #6 2 years ago

    1.5 million's not bad for Lost Planet 2 (I think). It's not exactly top-tier IP anyway. What the hell did they think they had on their hands, Call of Duty?

    Were Capcom seriously expecting 5+ million sales from a Lost Planet title? Who the fuck does their financial forecasting, eh?

  • darkmorgado #7 2 years ago

    Last great game Capcom made was Dead Rising.

    Street Fighter IV, SSF IV, Monster Hunter: Tri and Tatsunoku vs Capcom say hi!

  • Cheapshot #8 2 years ago

    "Lost Planet 2 sold 1.5 million units globally during those three months", "underperformed its projection substantially".

    Anyone else infuriated by this!?

  • BlinxHDD #9 2 years ago

    That's 1.5 million shipped to retail. There's probably a good 600 k still sitting on shelves.

  • space_ace #10 2 years ago

    yes, sweet numbers, but they think more in terms of whether the shareholders can return the credit for the yachts, villas, etc.
    we see such monstrous numbers and we think that's a lot of money, but they probably have already been spent.
    corporate culture...
    Edited by 1 at 29/07/10 @ 15:33

  • bad09 #11 2 years ago

    I actually applaude Mickey for turning Capcom sales figures into a Sony Troll. Just awesome, the Mr Miyagi of fanboys that one!

  • Collymilad #12 2 years ago

    "Last great game Capcom made was Dead Rising.

    Street Fighter IV, SSF IV, Monster Hunter: Tri and Tatsunoku vs Capcom say hi!"

    I say Bye!

  • Eighthours #13 2 years ago

    I'd attempt to fix the numbers by "making" better "games" if I were them.

  • mfnick #14 2 years ago

    Lost Planet 2 sold 1.5 million units globally during those three months, while Super Street Fighter IV sold 1.35 million units

    How the frick did LP2 outsell SSFIV?!?!

    SSFIV is awesome! LP2 is perhaps the worst game ive actually played this gen.

  • Feanor #15 2 years ago

    Maybe they should have included less crippling design flaws in LP2.

  • drumbaby #16 2 years ago

    Put Monster Hunter on PlayStations and watch it sell in Japan you stubborn fucks.

  • Whitster #17 2 years ago

    Maybe because Monster Hunter Tri was a horrible, akwardly controlled, plodding excuse for an action game. Never before have so many reviewers been so wrong.

  • varsas #18 2 years ago

    @mr_writer: So the Wii is a console that isn't selling well?

    @Whitster: Given the controls and mechanics are the same for Tri as previous MH games that have sold incredibly well I would say that those are not the reasons.
    Edited by 1 at 29/07/10 @ 16:10

  • drumbaby #19 2 years ago

    Yep, me and Drumbaby Jnr abandoned it after a week of playing it on my brother's Wii. The water sections were daft, the graphics washed out and blurry, and the controls awful.

    More PSP versions and a proper PS3 version please.

  • Sunworship #20 2 years ago

    Hi Capcom,

    The solution to your woes: Monster Hunter 3DS. I.e. Make a big game for one of these Nintendo mega-systems BEFORE it is rife with piracy.

    Invoice to follow.

    Yours,
    Sw

  • andywilkie35 #21 2 years ago

    Lost Planet 2 didn't do well because it relied on co-op too heavily and the achievements were appalling which would have caused a lot of people to fuck it off.

    Monster Hunter Tri was excellent but as a game that's best suited for multiplayer, having it on a console with a backward online system when there were two other consoles with much better multiplayer integration was retarded. Also selling it with a controller that made the Wii remote obsolete, which was an admission that it was best played with a traditional pad confirms the retardation.

    Silly twunts. Must try harder.

  • Jay-ITFC #22 2 years ago

    Note to self:

    Scrap crappy Lost Planet franchise.

    Announce Resident Evil 6.

  • alysonwheel #23 2 years ago

    I too wish that Capcom didn't want us all to multiplayer in every damn title. Monster Hunter Tri is fantastic, with beautifully fluid controls and boss fights (well, every fight after the first few is essentially a boss fight) I think every game could learn from... but there's twice as much content in the online-only game as the offline, and monsters you can only fight online! Sometimes I just want to kill a monster, not wrangle idiots with their own agendas; that's what World of Warcraft is for ^^

    edit: uh, beautifully fluid controls *with the new classic pad*
    Edited by 1 at 29/07/10 @ 16:42

  • miiiguel #24 2 years ago

    @ mr_writer : huh? Are you saying the PS3 sold more than the Wii ? Come on... you can't pull that out here, not here.

  • darkphoenix #25 2 years ago

    Capcom, here's a hint: start producing better games.

    And I can't forgive you the "Street Fighter update", shame on you.

  • FogHeart #26 2 years ago

    Downloaded LP2 demo.
    Fired it up.
    Tried single player.
    Started cursing at screen during firefights.
    15 minutes later, said "Come back when I can control this reticle with Move like SOCOM".
    Closed game.

  • TipTop #27 2 years ago

    Coop is not as popular as these developers think. I don't think I am in the minority.

  • Lunastra78 #28 2 years ago

    Well I quite liked LP2, and would love to see a MH for the PS3. But they need to advertise their games more enthusiastically in US and Europe if they want big sales.

  • spiritsnake #29 2 years ago

    @Fogheart
    you can remove that effect with the reticule in the options menu and make it behave just like the reticules in any other western shooter game.try it,it will change your experience!

  • HermitArcader #30 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • miiiguel #31 2 years ago

    "Come back when I can control this reticle with Move like SOCOM".

    Do you have Move?

  • BlinxHDD #32 2 years ago

    The other thing to consider is Lost Planet 2 dropped in price before release, preorders must have been quite weak and then dropped again to half RRP pretty much as soon as it released.
    Edited by 1 at 29/07/10 @ 17:56

  • bdc #33 2 years ago

    I guess Capcom finally realized we're all sick of the same, tired old bullshit.

  • X #34 2 years ago

    Unfortunately I want them to make Lost Planet 3....doing it the right way of course and I'm sure this has put paid to that.

  • penhalion #35 2 years ago

    Like most here I found lost planet 2 to be a bit crap. The missions were designed for multiplayer so the single player game became a lesson in endurance as you died time and time again through overwhelming and overpowered enemies (as well as the now capcom trait of piss poor AI companions)!

  • thewool #36 2 years ago

    Haven't got the time to play mediocre games anymore, sorry...

    ...plus still haven't played LP1 :0/

  • Miths #37 2 years ago

    I would love to try a Monster Hunter game, but their choice of platform made that impossible.
    Isn't that game series pretty "hardcore" (at least in terms of hours people tend to invest in it)? Seems like making it a Wii exclusive was a pretty odd choice - but perhaps that allowed them to save money and reuse assets from the old PSP games, which might not have worked worked on the HD consoles without ending up with a terribly ugly game?

  • super_monty #38 2 years ago

    I have played the following Lost Planet 2, Monster hunter tri thought they were average so the average sales don't suprise me.
    I might buy Lost planet when I can pick it up for a fiver.

  • Pehmu #39 2 years ago

    Capcom should take a good look at western 3rd person action games and learn something from them. Mainly the controls. What the hell were they thinking when they designed controls for Resident Evil 5? No strafing while running? No moving while aiming? I guess they really thought everyone would love that.

  • FuzzyDuck #40 2 years ago

    Capcom has revealed that Lost Planet 2's "single player underperformed substantially".

    /fixed

  • KDR_11k #41 2 years ago

    I want to see if other companies saw a similar decline so we know whether it's really the economy or if Capcom just didn't make games people wanted.

  • curtlikesmeat #42 2 years ago

    I really like lots of things about Street Fighter, and I know this is just me, and I almost feel bad about it, but gone are the days when I can find more than 10 minutes entertainment in a game where two people just pummel each other for 30 seconds, then rinse and repeat. I'm probably getting old.
    Edited by 1 at 29/07/10 @ 22:26

  • dingo75 #43 2 years ago

    Ah and Capcom:
    Delay of LP2's PC version to this coming Fall might have not been a good idea either.
    Now we know the game sucks for single player and can avoid it thanks to the console guys...

  • Seoh #44 2 years ago

    To be fair they released monster hunter tri, a quite hardcore game that requires patience, strategy and time on a console were the most popular game is "just dance"

    A ps3 or xbox version even with similar graphics would have easily broken 1 million sales.

  • Lunatic4ever #45 2 years ago

    yeah i dont know which segment of gamers capcom initially intended to target.however,lost planet was a failed attempt.
    you have got to adapt to modern attitudes.gamers want to have the felixibility to change the difficulty.frustration is no longer really accepted except of hardcore gamers. but hey become rare.

  • dudefella #46 2 years ago

    Considering the quality of Lost Planet 2, 1.5 doesn't seem like a bad number at all. Not sure what they were expecting. Would've expected slightly more for SSF4 though.

    Also is Ghost Trick out already? I really want that.

  • metroid455 #47 2 years ago

    heres a hint capcom , if you keep putting in ridiculous difficulty spikes and crappy partner AI (looking at you resi 5,LP2) then people just ain't gonna buy your games. and as another poster said, average sales for average games!

    to quote zero punctuation, capcom are not bad people THERE JUST IDIOTS!
    Edited by 3 at 30/07/10 @ 04:26

  • Rack #48 2 years ago

    Assuming they don't make some horrendous mistake Dead Rising 2 should show them the gaming sector is actually pretty much recovered now.

  • JohnnyFireBlade #49 2 years ago

    I tried the original Lost Planet demo and opted not to buy the game because I wasn't impressed. A friend bought me Lost Planet 2 as a birthday present a week ago and I was about to give up because I couldn't find a single player option, when I finally realised that single player = multi player with bots. I then played a few missions and gave up because I wasn't impressed.

    I also recently bought MotoGP 09/10, another Capcom title. It's OK, but not groundbreaking with a huge wow factor.

    SFIV has been the best Capcom game I've played recently. Maybe they're just buying some bad licences.

  • Cloud-Strife #50 2 years ago

    Monster Hunter Tri is a huge, rewarding game. Online mode and the pro controller, it makes all the difference!

    I've put 50+ hours into it and still loving it!

  • SlackMaster #51 2 years ago

    I though Tatsunoku vs Capcom was brilliant and by far the best 'vs' game released since SNK vs Capcom 2. Although I like MH games back in the day I think they really need to do something new with this series as many of the games are too similar and grindy IMO.

    Apart from Tatsunoku vs Capcom, SF4 and Megaman 9/10 capcom have released a few poor games recently, and even RE5 wasn't very good again IMO.

  • glaeken #52 2 years ago

    I lost all interest in Lost planet 2 the moment I heard it was so focussed on 4 player co-op and that that had crippled the single player.

  • MetalDooley #53 2 years ago

    @Seoh

    MH3 sold over a million copies in Japan so it's probably close to the 2 million mark overall which is pretty damn good for a third party hardcore Wii game.Plus the MH series has never been that popular outside Japan so what makes you think this one would have been any different?Frankly nearly 3/4 million sales outside Japan seems about as good as they could have expected

    As for LP2 one of the reasons LP1 sold well is because it came out in the first year of the 360's launch when it didn't have a huge amount of competition.Capcom were fooling themselves if they thought the sequel was going to be a huge hit

  • Phishfood #54 2 years ago

    Social Monster Hunter game? Should be focusing on a 3DS Monster Hunter.

  • ChocNut #55 2 years ago

    Can't please people it seems. Sorry but gamers have been SCREECHING for co-op - because most major releases don't have it. It's a pity they didn't make the SP a little easier but this is a good game.

    Sickens me when mass churned out crap sells better than a game that genuinely tried to please the hardcore. It's like mirrors edge, bionic commando and cartoony prince of persia. We need to reward these productions or we'll just get halo, pokemon and mario forever.

    Oh and RE5 was second only to uncharted 2. Have any of you even played the actual game in co-op? Or are you basing your whiny bitchfest on SP demos?
    Edited by 1 at 01/08/10 @ 09:03

  • TRUTH #56 2 years ago

    I hate games that are aimed at multiplaye/co-op sacrificing single player - Lost Planet 2, RE 5 spoiled the game rather then improve the game - stop jumping on this silly idea that all games should be focused on co-op or the dreaded multiplayer gaming experince.

    I enjoyed Lost Planed 1 and RE 4 a lot more sue to the single player experience and focus on single player!