Capcom has recently celebrated 17 years of the Resident Evil Series' existence, during which they've released 86 titles. With a special report on their investor relations website, giving some of the history behind what they still see as an unlikely hit, and their concerns and plans as they move out of the teenage years. There's some behind the scenes information that the fans of the series may find interesting (so go have a read of it), but perhaps the most interesting titbit for us is the statistics they have on the fans themselves.
According to Capcom's research, Resident Evil's main group of players is currently in their 30's-40's, sparking fears that the major percentage of their user base may soon outgrow games due to family or work commitment, or simply becoming too old to keep up with the quicktime events. Personally I'm not entirely sure how they came by those numbers, as most of the people I know who admitted to buying the latest Resident Evil games were younger than 22, but that hasn't stopped Capcom from coming up with a solution anyway.
As part of their investors' trip down memory lane, Capcom has let it be known that they "have created opportunities for receiving coverage in fashion magazines by collaborating with fashion brands which are popular among young people. We are also actively working on spreading name recognition among non-gamers through expansion in other industries, including the "Halloween Horror Night" event in alliance with Universal Studios Japan (USJ) and the opening of the "Resident Evil Café and Grill S.T.A.R.S." (a "Resident Evil"-themed restaurant) in Shibuya PARCO, Tokyo."
In addition to these events, restaurants and fashion magazine spreads, they have also created "Club 96, the official fan club for our core gamers" saying that it will act "as a forum for the direct dissemination of information, including holding the annual members-only Premium Party, it serves as a bridge between developers and users". So great job Capcom, you've caught up to the mid 90's, which was probably the last time where your fanbase would have joined an official fan club!
Posted 02-01-2014, 02:11
"sparking fears their user base may soon outgrow the games..."
I don't know if Capcom doesn't understand the statistics they are getting, are having a complete brainfart or what... but wtf!
If your user base is between 30-40 that means that those who go above the 40s have outgrown the game, while those entering the 30s are the NEW fans joining the franchise's user base.
I will explain it in more simple terms. Imagine you have a user group statistic of between 4 and 5 years old. Does this mean that next year your entire user group will outgrow your game and you will be bankrupt? No of course not! It means that it is a cycle from year to year where previously the gamers of 5 years old move on to games for 6 year olds, while new ones who have just become 4 years old pick up that franchise now.
It really frustrates me when I read stuff like this, statistical analysis is really not that complex and while I do have a degree that includes this, I don't understand why those who have a degree in this is not explaining their results properly to Capcom (presuming they outsourced this market research to a specialist firm for analysis markets and consumer groups/etc...)
But bah, pure rage right now, nothing I can't stand more than stupidity from such a big company.
Posted 30-12-2013, 23:23
86 in total, not 86 Resident Evil's I think. Though I can personally name around twenty of the latter
Posted 30-12-2013, 23:06
86 titles?!?!?!?!?!
Posted 30-12-2013, 17:45
Well, you'd have to be extremely juvenile to take Resident Weevil seriously