Capcom has created some games that many gamers have grown up with. Currently, the company is more successful than ever before.
Which game company is it about? The Japanese game developer and publisher Capcom is known for titles such as Street Fighter and Mega-Man.
The two game series emerged in the late 80s and shaped the childhood of many gamers. In total, Capcom released 94 “Street Fighter” games and 158 “Mega Man” spin-offs. Kids of the 90s remember especially Street Fighter 2 and 3.
Today, in 2023, Capcom is more successful than ever before. The stock price of Capcom has been sharply rising since around 2018, reaching a new peak on April 4 (via finance.yahoo.com).
The studio seems to make many right decisions, but the cornerstones of success are no longer the classics we once played as children, but rather two completely different series.
Success on the backs of zombies and monsters
With which series is Capcom currently successful? When Capcom’s stock price soared in 2018 and 2019, two game series were particularly successful – Monster Hunter and Resident Evil.
Three titles stood out in particular (as of December 31, 2022 via capcom.co.jp):
- Resident Evil 7 biohazard (2017) – 11.7 million units sold.
- Monster Hunter: World (MHW) (2018) – 18.6 million units sold.
- Including the MHW expansion Iceborn (2019) – 10 million units sold.
- Resident Evil 2 Remake (2019) – 11.2 million units sold.
Capcom celebrated huge successes with the three games in three consecutive years, which to this day are among the four best-selling games of the studio. In 2021, the studio continued its success with Monster Hunter: Rise (11.7 million) and Resident Evil Village (7.4 million).
In total, the “Monster Hunter” franchise has 90 million units sold and is second to Resident Evil (135 million) among Capcom’s best-selling game series (via capcom.co.jp).
How is 2023 going for Capcom? In March 2023, the remake of Resident Evil 4 was released. And although some fans are not satisfied with the cast of a voice actress, the release of the remake was indeed successful.
According to Capcom, the RE4 remake sold over 3 million copies within the first 2 days (via capcom.co.jp). On Steam, the game received a strong 97% positive reviews and also achieved an impressive score of 92 on metacritic (PC version).
Street Fighter 6 is also planned for release in June 2023, seven years after the release of Street Fighter V.
Whether the latest installment of the fighting game series can match the successes of Resident Evil or Monster Hunter remains to be seen. Perhaps we will once again see exciting battles from the now 41-year-old e-sport legend Daigo Umehara:
E-sport legend is still the best in Street Fighter at 39 years old and with a broken finger
