Capcom to Exit Arcades?

Capcom to Exit Arcades?

Heated news is filtering out of Japan that Capcom is about to exit out of the arcade industry and shift its focus soley on the consumer market.

Printed reports from both the Nihon Keizai Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbum suggesting Capcom plans a full-scale withdrawal from the arcade market over the next year. This was also reported on Japanese television. The fuel to the fire is Capcom has begun to miss exhibiting at amusement industry trade show, profits have become lower from the arcade division and home console games require a smaller investment and produce a higher profit margin.

Capcom officials have downplayed the reports and said that the company has not withdrawn from the arcade industry, but is refocusing on home software with a cut back in resources in its arcade division.

This can be seen very clearly as Capcom is preparing to release its new Dreamcast title(its first public appearance), Capcom vs SNK Millennium Fight 2000 Pro on their booth at the Tokyo Game Show 2001. This will include a special tournament promotion.

Many industry professionals believed the pull back actually happened last year when arcade games were being released at the same time as consumer games which did not allow the operator enough breathing space to make a profit to justify the cost of a new game. In fact, games such as Marvel vs Capcom II and Capcom vs SNK were not sold in great numbers when new because operators could not see the value in paying the high prices - however once the price dropped to half of its value, they have been two of the strongest selling games in the 2nd hand market.