Capcom will reportedly focus the Resident Evil and Monster Hunter franchises on PC from now on; making up half of sales by the end of 2022.
Nikkei reports (via VGC), Capcom COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto’s comments to them. He stated that the Resident Evil and Monster Hunter series “will mainly focus on PC software” from now on, and his hopes to increase PC software sales until that platform makes up half of all sales by the end of 2022.
“PC is driving global sales,” Tsujimoto stated. “We have recently stated that we will make the PC our main platform. At this year’s Tokyo Game Show, we focused on exhibiting the PC version of Monster Hunter Rise, and I think people will be able to experience the change in our approach.”
Tsujimoto further explained that this focus on PC was due to digital sales of legacy titles. He notes that Resident Evil 7 still sells over one million copies a year. As of August 2021, the game has sold 9.8 million copies across Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Amazon Luna, and Google Stadia.
There was also an increase in Japanese PC gaming during the pandemic and subsequent lockdown. “The pandemic is changing the way people look at PCs,” Tsujimoto explains. “Smartphones are convenient, but their screens are small, and their touch panels are difficult to operate, so they are not suitable for home working or school classes. I think PCs will be the next big thing after smartphones.”
“The PC can also play high-quality games, so the number of PC users should increase as understanding of the PC increases. We will expand our business for dedicated game consoles, which has been the mainstream up to now, but PC will be the mainstream in the future. Next year or the year after, we want to equalize the ratio of sales to PCs and dedicated consoles.”
We previously covered why Japan does not like PC gaming in our first Niche Video. If Capcom’s predictions are correct, Japan may turn towards PC gaming more and more; much like the west has done. Will other Japanese game developers and publishers follow suit?
Image: Monster Hunter Rise (via Steam), Resident Evil Village (via Steam)
