Capcom says it’s doing better than expected thanks to Monster Hunter Rise, RE3
Publisher says its legacy games continue to sell well on digital platforms
Capcom has told its shareholders it expects to generate almost 20% more operating income this fiscal year, mostly due to stronger than expected digital sales of games like Resident Evil 3, and Monster Hunter Rise pre-orders.
On Thursday, the Japanese publisher announced it was revising up its forecast for the year ending March 31, 2021, with net sales expected to be 8.2% higher at $889m and net income expected to be 16.7% up at $203m.
Capcom said the increase was due to recent success in proactively growing sales in its core Digital Contents business.
“We have seen a solid performance by new title Resident Evil 3, along with continued growth in high-margin catalog titles with long sales cycles, such as Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, which was released in the previous fiscal year,” it said.
“Additionally, orders for Monster Hunter Rise, a major new title scheduled for release in March of this year, are off to a promising start. Altogether, this has led us to expect this business to outperform our plan.”
The company also reported a stronger than expected performance from its Amusement Equipments business.
Capcom had previously indicated that it was not surprised by the sales figures for Resident Evil 3, which, as of last summer, had performed well below recent series instalments.
As of June 30, RE3 had sold some 2.7m units after nearly three months of sales. The figure marks a significant 55% decline from Resident Evil 2’s two-month launch sales of 4.2 million and a 30% decline from Resident Evil 7’s two-month launch sales of 3.5m.
However, Capcom suggested at the time that the 2020 remake’s sales were in line with the performance of the original PlayStation game, which itself was less popular and sold significantly less than its predecessors (including Director’s Cut versions).
Announced in September, Monster Hunter Rise will be released exclusively for Nintendo Switch on March 26, 2021. Capcom recently released a Monster Hunter Rise demo on the eShop.
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Capcom will share Resident Evil news during a showcase next week
Capcom will stream a Resident Evil Showcase today at 2pm PT / 10pm GMT. According to Capcom, the event will showcase a guided walkthrough of Resident Evil Village, including a new trailer, as well as additional news “related to the Resident Evil franchise”.
On announcement is thought to be a multiplayer mode for Resident Evil Village. Capcom recently announced a closed beta test for an unknown multiplayer action game set in the Resident Evil franchise, and earlier this week Steam DB showed that Village’s store tags had been updated to include a multiplayer tag.
The closed beta is described as a “test celebrating the 25th anniversary of Resident Evil” and is due to be held on PS4 and Xbox One from January 27-29. Further details will be revealed during a Resident Evil Showcase on Thursday.
