Capcom Lowers Earnings Forecast After Resident Evil 6 Sales Weaken, Monster Hunter 4 Delayed

While Capcom initially sounded off that Resident Evil 6 has shipped 4.5 million units, it seems that wasn't enough, as the publisher is now revising their earnings forecast ending March 31, 2013 after Resident Evil 6's sales have "weakened." Additionally, one of the publisher's big bets — which is Monster Hunter 4 — has been delayed into the next fiscal year, which further instigates the lowering of their forecast.

In a report over on the official Capcom Japan site, the publisher has listed the reasons why they're lowering their forecast from 105,000 million Yen in net sales, to a plunge of about 11% to 93,500 million Yen.

In the Digital Contents business, sales of the major new title "Resident Evil 6" were initially strong but subsequently weakened. As a result, sales for this title are certain to fall short of the plan.

In addition, the launch of "Monster Hunter 4", which was scheduled for March 2013, has been pushed back to the next fiscal year in order to further raise the quality of this game.

For these reasons, sales, operating income, ordinary income and net income are all expected to be less than the figures in the previous forecast for the fiscal year.

There is no change in the year-end dividend forecast of 25 yen per share.

I take it that Resident Evil 6's piddling reviews finally caught up to it and how people are wary of getting it brand new. Not to rag on RE6 too much, but this proves that a game can't live on its name alone and expect to be a success. 

Hopefully, this means Capcom will go back to the drawing board when it comes to Resident Evil 6 and makes it more "horror" than "survival (action."

Did you like Resident Evil 6 or do you feel vindicated that Capcom themselves seem to have eggs on their faces now after what they did to their once-revered franchise?

Thanks, Polygon