Capcom, the company behind franchises such as Street Fighter, Dead Rising, Resident Evil and Mega Man, has been accused of being stagnant and rehashing the same game over and over again. However, if their recent $78 million dollar investment in two new Research and Development facilities is to be believed, Capcom aims to both create new games and reduce costs in the long run.
Both facilities are built in Osaka, right by the Capcom headquarters. The first facility will be about 9 floors (8 floors, 1 underground level) in total with an area of 454.90 square meters. The second building will be about 18 floors in total (16 floors and 2 underground levels) and an area of 1,332.30 square meters.
According to Capcom, the facilities will be armed with “a motion capture room, a studio for producing and recording sound effects, and multi-purpose spaces that can hold more than 100 people.” The purpose of these facilities in the long run is to “improve quality while holding down development expenses by accumulating development technologies and other knowledge” and “make game development operations more efficient by centralizing these operations and upgrading speed and control.”
The final phase of Capcom’s R&D is acquiring the talent necessary to harness the facilities. Capcom claims they will hire on average 100 developers per year, the majority being new graduates. By March 2025, Capcom predicts to have a workforce of 2,500 developers.
All of this has Capcom believe they will hold a competitive edge over other publishers when it comes to development in the PC and mobile space. “The appearance of next-generation consoles with a variety of network functions has shifted the focus of sales from conventional package software to digitally distributed content. The profit structure and business model are changing at an increasing speed as a result. Furthermore, the popularity of social games due to the widespread use of smartphones is enabling games to reach more user segments and enlarging the entire game market…Capcom is determined to use the new facilities to create highly original games that can meet the expectations of users.”
