Capcom USA vice president, Christian Svensson, dealt out a few more responses on the Unity Boards concerning the PC v2012 release of SSF4 AE, how operations are ran in their U.S. and Japan offices and things of that nature.The patch for v2012 of SSF4 AE has already been in Japanese arcades (i.e. pretty much a PC machine) since early December. It's even been released on the damn iOS version. This is a trivial update and should have been done by now for PC gamers.
Svensson: It's not as trivial as you think guys. And no, the Arcade code has nothing to do with the PC code. They're completely different codebases handled by completely different teams.
And iOS has nothing to do with this. There was an update for that product completely unrelated to AE (and done by a completely different team/division of the company).
How much control does Capcom of America have over Japanese IPs? i.e. How much authority does Capcom America have on what titles come to the states?
Svensson: We have considerable input but not authority. That's the wrong word. However there are often development realities (lack of localization resources, team or key members moving on to another project that's more important to the company to move forward on) or business realities (the costs of localization/modification of the game to fit our market needs better are higher than the potential revenue) that can limit that.
I'm personally engaged on the long term product planning and there are some games at the outset we plan for global release, and some games we don't (there are some games that don't get released in Japan too).
If Capcom of America wanted to make a game that is a Japanese IP, can you?
Svensson: We've made many. Okami Wii, Bionic Commando Rearmed 2, Super Puzzle Fighter, MvC2, 1942: Joint Strike, Commando 3, etc. And we have more coming. But it depends on the IP and there's loads of approvals from a variety of folks to make that happen.
Lets use Darkstalkers for example, could you develop a game for the states, or would it have to come from Japan first? Can Japanese IPs be developed in the states and then translated to Japanese and sent over there?
Svensson: Theoretically, yes, it could be developed in the West and run by our team, but to be clear, that's not happening. As far as translating stuff we do here and bringing it back into Japan, indeed, we have done that in the past as well.
Also, how much authority do you have on what system a game is sold on? If you really wanted to, could CoA port games to other systems? — Turian
Svensson: It varies from project to project. And I'd substitute "authority" with "recommend and then execute". Ultimately we've done this with many projects, including Okami Wii and most recently on Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition PC.
Is it possible for Capcom USA to break away from Capcom Japan and create their own games? And/or still be partners? — Regulas
Svensson: We have made and continue to make lots of games here, but they tend to be based upon Capcom IP (with a few exceptions).
As far as being completely autonomous, not likely. We're wholly owned by Capcom Co. LTD.
As much as I love the Marvel vs. Capcom games the lack of story in MvC3 has left me in a kind of wanting. I'm curious how the universes managed to crossover with each other and the game didn't really answer that. — Versus Omnibus
Svensson: I believe some of that story and [concept] was covered in the comic book that was in vanilla's special edition.
Will we ever see a Capcom bar in the west? — Linkyshinks
Svensson: For me, the biggest thing is budgets and impact. It's a very cool idea and I like the concept but the operational cost for the reach/impact for the US (Tokyo is a market unto itself) is likely quite different than it is in Japan. Our margins are much thinner than Japan's (their margin/unit is effectively 2X ours... more on some platforms).
(Capcom USA made DeeJay, keep drink the juices of hateration tho.)
Cap US's stuff has been good. HD Remix's rebalance made it a better game, SF3 used GGPO but should have been rebalanced. MvC2 was good for what it was, but the bugs kind of killed it along with the online play features not being up to par.
HD Remix made it so all of the characters are viable instead of just the top and middle tiers. A Zangief won evo on HDR that wouldn't have happened in ST.
@4 What are you talking about? SF3 still has more players on it every time of day than KoF13.
"Svensson: It's not as trivial as you think guys. And no, the Arcade code has nothing to do with the PC code. They're completely different codebases handled by completely different teams."
takes a separate, dedicated team 4 months to port 2012 to pc? mhmmmmmm......
I am a random anonymous internet user and therefore I know more than everyone, in fact I have even thought of a way to end world hunger by just giving all the hungry people food. However the governments of the word said to me "it's not that simple" what a bunch of lying snobs they just want to make more money off people.
I read "How much control does Capcom of America have over Japanese IPs?" as "How much control does Captain America have over Japanese IPs?" lol.
@4
I don't think SF3OE was ever about expanding their market share, rather it was about capitalizing on the SF3 market segment.
SF3 has always been a bit of a niche game, it's either you get it, or you don't. But it's loyalists were damn loyal and now Capcom is giving them the chance to play SF3 online LEGALLY (and give Capcom their money).
Here we go again, we have a bunch of gamers that have noclue about game development asking stupid questions, and reacting here like morons.
The changes to the balance of the game are not as trivial as some of you guys think, they tell you that too, but, as somebody who has never worked a day in the game industry, you go and argue this claim? SMH
Then there's also a release schedule, marketing and whatnot and you guys claim they could just throw any release out there because you want them to? That's just plain retarded.
I know that sometimes waiting for a port or update can be hell, but when they rush it, it will mess up the game. MvC3, anyone? So I guess it comes down to whether you want to play crap early or wait until they have time to make sure that the game/port/update is of that quality you actually want to play it.
you are all wrong!1!!1.
its just resource distribution based on profit they get ffrom each platform.
-balance patching ye is trivial.its the decisions takes time. Which is obviously already out.
-yes they talk like politician.
-And yes they know their stuff better than anybody else and dont need to be lectured.
HD Remix is crap. More people play SF2 on GGPO than on HD Remix. I don't anyone who plays that game casually or seriously.
@3
The reason why a Zangief player won Evo in HD Remix is because there were no japanese players and no one took the game that seriously with SF4 being the main SF game at the time.
Uh, Svensson, it IS trivial! When we see other PC companies release patches FIRST on PC because it is MORE convenient, since they have full control over that platform and we see Capcom release a patch on PC last, 4 months later, there's something wrong here.
If it's so trivial, why don't YOU make a patch and distribute it to everyone in the world?
Regardless of what he had to say about PC 2012 it is still unacceptable.
This is the opposite of what he told us when we were waiting for a PC port of SSF4. I distinctly remember him hinting that we might see a PC port if they decided to do an arcade release, which obviously didn't happen. Now he's telling us that they use a different 'codebase', whatever that means. Sounds like marketing speak for 'I have no satisfactory answer as to why the PC port is taking so long'.
2012 on PC.
I can wait for a good thing.
Glad to know they are on it.
It's disgusting how CAPCOM handles PC. The answer is useless and carefully avoiding to talk about the real topic. When did Sven became a politician?
The guy was mentioning even iOS got an update where PC player's don't even know a DATE when the update will come. I'm a PC player, but if I'd never a had a PC and I would be a console player, I would still think this is totally unaccaeptable, unfair.
Consumer protection should should ensure equal rights to all platforms.
@31 i'd agree if it werent for the ever growing piracy on the PC, a big reason why most console games never see a PC release unless it's one of those origin games like CoD where it started from.
You guys don't realize how much money they lose when they make these games on PC and as much as people here are loyal Capcom fans, if the opportunity to play these fighters became free illegally, they would jump ship instantly. To expect them to take porting these games lightly would be foolish. So you don't have as many rights as a console owner by nature thanks to piracy. Also fighters on the PC is a rare thing. It's not like SFxT is gonna be the new BF3 or something.
@32
I know about piracy, I'm not a new guy in gaming. But I belive, BECAUSE of piracy, the honest customer deserves respect. From my point of view, it's like developers see me as a pirate WHILE I'm a legal gamer, I pay for their work, I respect them with this and so on. I don't want any special service or something, only the right, to be handled the same like other platforms.
Capcom US has ported over a bunch of crappy games leave it to the Japanese team. MvC2 and SF3 online were bad ports, HDRemix was good though.