Last year, Capcom released Exoprimal. While not their first online multiplayer shooter, Capcom made a real effort to stand out from the pack with a unique game concept, and also a distinct game design.
While the game does have a fanbase, it didn’t really get enough of a following to be a real contender in the live service space. Capcom effectively ended development last July, but at least, unlike other games, it still remains available to play.
Now, Capcom has signaled what direction they intend to go moving forward.
As reported by Video Games Chronicle, Capcom’s investor site now says this:
“In addition to regularly releasing major new titles each year, Capcom is focusing on re-activating dormant IPs that haven’t had a new title launch recently.
The company is working to further enhance corporate value by leveraging its rich library of content, which includes reviving past IPs like the two titles announced above, in order to continuously produce highly efficient, high-quality titles.”
It’s a little hard to trace exactly where Capcom decided to pivot on their classic games. One can argue they don’t really wait too long to rerelease their old games, especially when it comes to collections like Capcom Arcade Stadium.
But it’s easy to see that Capcom has pivoted hard to looking back to their older games here and now. They just announced plans to make an Ōkami sequel and a new Onimusha game, and these are the games alluded to in the investor site.
Throughout this year, they rereleased older classic games in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy, Ace Attorney Investigations Collection, Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics, and Ghost Trick.
They also released a Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster and Dragon’s Dogma 2, a long-awaited sequel for another classic title. They also rereleased the first three Resident Evil games on PC in collaboration with GOG, and several of their classic games on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
These two latest announcements can certainly raise fans’ hopes that they can jump back into some older Capcom titles, like Dino Crisis and Viewtiful Joe. But we wonder if there will be room for Capcom to give some of those deep cuts a second chance, like Sengoku Basara or Zack & Wiki, or for that matter, their 1980s library that they haven’t given any love like Black Tiger, Vulgus and Gun.Smoke.
And since Capcom figured out how to license with Marvel again to deliver Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics, who is to say that they can’t find a way to revive Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom, maybe with Speed Racer this time? We are certainly looking forward to seeing what other dormant IPs Capcom is considering for a comeback in 2025 and beyond.
