Capcom has buckled under the pressure of its shareholders (as well as its worldwide “fans”, apparently) by deciding to bring Resident Evil 4 to the Playstation 2 after all. Surprisingly, an Xbox conversion hasn’t been ruled out yet either.
GameCube owners shouldn’t worry though, as I’m sure that the Playstation 2 port of Resident Evil 4 will be downgraded beyond all recognition. The GameCube version will also be the only version of the game available at least until the end of 2005.
IMO, this move proves that Capcom isn’t confident that Resident Evil 4 will provide them with the sales figures they were hoping for on the GameCube alone, or has Capcom simply become greedy in its old age?
[quote=“Abadd”]Greedy? Why is it “greedy” to bring the game to the widest possible audience? More platforms = more sales = more happy developers and fans.
How is it fair to their fans who only own PS2s if it was a GC exclusive? Wouldn’t GC owners be happy if it was the other way around?[/quote]
This decision to bring Resident Evil 4 to the PS2 was motivated by no other reason than money. I’m just not sure if Capcom was unhappy with the predicted sales figures of the GameCube version of the game, or if Capcom simply wanted to make as much money from the game as possible.
It all depends on how you define greed. Capcom was certainly satisfied with Devil May Cry’s sales figures not to convert it to any other console. As far as I can see, very few developers/publishers can afford to make exclusive games for the GameCube or Xbox when the Playstation 2 owns the largest share of the market.
I was hoping that Resident Evil 4 would find its way onto another console eventually, but I don’t find the prospect of playing a downgraded version of the game appealing. Let’s hope it arrives on the Xbox…
And you expect Capcom to say, “Nah… We’ll ignore our fans/stockholders/common sense and sell less copies of this game than we could potentially. Because, hey… despite the hype behind this game and how there are millions of people looking forward to it, we don’t actually need to sell it to everyone who wants a copy, right?”
You never know. They might have had an exclusivity deal with Sony that prevented them from doing it. And your second comment about not being able to afford exclusive content on the Xbox and GC, well, that pretty much proves my point that it isn’t necessarily “greed.”
I always wondered if Capcom was losing money by bringing the Resident Evil series to the GameCube. I just find this sudden change of heart puzzling, especially after the Resident Evil remake and Resident Evil Zero. Why bring Resident Evil 4 to the Playstation 2 now? Why not make it for the Playstation 2 (the most popular console on the planet) first, and then port it? That would’ve been the most profitable move for all concerned. It seems as if Capcom has bowed to some internal and external pressure.
Maybe the amount of copies it was going to sell as a GameCube exclusive wasn’t enough, or maybe Capcom just wanted to maximize profits. When is enough, enough? It will be interesting to see if RE 4 arrives on the Xbox; Capcom has no reason not to port the game. And if it doesn’t, then I’ll use all your own arguments against you, Abadd, as to why it should have. >:)
Well, to be honest, ports (particularly of Japanese games) have historically failed miserably on the Xbox. In fact, outside of Tecmo’s offerings, not a whole lot of Japanese games have done well at all on the Xbox. It might just not be worth their time.
As for why GC first? Who knows? Maybe they felt that they had spent so much time working on the GC that they could make the best game possible on that machine first, then pare it down for the PS2? At least they’re not building to the lowest common denominator.
Well that’s supposed to be because Japanese games don’t usually appeal to Xbox owners, this is resident evil, which seems like a game that could do well on the Xbox.
That should really be common sense; they’ve been working on the GC version for years and have probably only started fairly recently on the PS2 version.
Also, I seem to remember someone from Capcom stating that they wanted to put the Resident Evil series on the Gamecube because when they were choosing out of this generation of consoles they thought “Nintendo has always made good games”.
Capcom chose to bring the Resident Evil series to the GameCube because they didn’t want the Playstation 2 to totally dominate the market (the GameCube needed more exclusive games to separate it from the competition).
The way I see it, Capcom at least originally planned for Resident Evil 4 to be a GameCube exclusive, but something or a combination of things later changed their minds (like games not selling as well as they had hoped on the GameCube). Obviously, Capcom doesn’t believe it can afford to ignore the Playstation 2’s massive installed userbase.
Also, there’s no excuse not to port Resident Evil 4 to the Xbox now… in my opinion of course. Everyone is familiar enough with the Resident Evil series by now for it to sell reasonably well on all consoles.
It would be the first survival horror I bought.Then agehn I never even finished a survival horror.I played the first Resident Evil for 5 minutes on the Saturn and that was it…
I’ve just seen a 6 min video of it at gamespot and I’m quite impressed.Thing is I never bought a horror game.Maybe that’s beacuse I don’t like horror movies that much.
I mean if it’s suposed to scare you, you either :
1-Don’t feel scared and the purpose of the game is no more…
or
2-You get scared and ;is it just me or people are not suposed to like beeing scraed?Do you guys like it?; the game is something that doesn’t appeal to you.
I admit I’ve not found many games (including horror games) genuinely unnerving, but when they do feel worrying in some way it can actually enhance the experience; by getting you more involved and immersed in the game world for example, and by giving you a greater sense of achievement when you do overcome a scary situation.
I’ve never been scared by a video game, but I’ve been surprised on multiple occasions.
Having seen some footage of Resident Evil 4 on TV, I must say that the game definately looks like a step in the right direction. The question is, has the game been confirmed anywhere else, besides Spong? Spong isn’t always the most realiable of sources from what I’ve heard.
If it comes out on Xbox, I’ll consider getting the game, or at least try it.
