Capcom's Revival: From Resident Evil 6 to Monster Hunter Wilds' Success

With Monster Hunter Wilds breaking Steam records and Resident Evil enjoying unprecedented popularity thanks to Village and a series of stellar remakes, Capcom seems unstoppable in the gaming industry. However, this wasn't always the case. Just a few years ago, following a series of critical and commercial failures, Capcom was struggling to find its footing and reconnect with its audience.

Capcom was facing an identity crisis. The survival horror genre-defining Resident Evil series had lost its edge after Resident Evil 4, and Street Fighter, another flagship franchise, was faltering with the poorly received Street Fighter 5. These setbacks put Capcom on the brink of collapse, but a pivotal shift in their game development strategy and the adoption of a new, powerful game engine breathed new life into their iconic series, sparking a resurgence that has propelled Capcom back to the forefront of the industry.

Resident Evil Lost Its Way

2016 was a challenging year for Capcom. The release of Resident Evil: Umbrella Corps, an online co-op shooter, was met with harsh criticism from both reviewers and fans. Similarly, Street Fighter 5 was met with skepticism by longtime fans who were disappointed with its lack of content and poor online functionality. Dead Rising 4, featuring the return of Frank West, marked the end of the series' new releases. This period highlighted a low point for Capcom, which had been struggling since 2010 with diminishing returns on mainline Resident Evil games, despite strong sales, and a lack of new entries in other key franchises like Devil May Cry. Monster Hunter, though hugely popular in Japan, struggled to gain traction internationally.

"Many of us started feeling that what the fans and players wanted from the series was getting a little bit separate from what we were making," a sentiment that encapsulated the disconnect between Capcom and its audience during this time. Since 2017, however, Capcom has transformed into a powerhouse of game development, releasing a string of successful titles from its most beloved franchises, including Monster Hunter World, Devil May Cry 5, Street Fighter 6, and a series of critically acclaimed remakes and soft reboots of the Resident Evil series. This turnaround required more than just learning from past mistakes; it necessitated a complete overhaul of Capcom's strategy, from targeting a broader audience to leveraging new technology.

To delve deeper into this transformation, IGN interviewed four of Capcom's leading creatives to understand how the company managed to recover and thrive. Founded in 1979 as a manufacturer of electronic game machines, Capcom rose to prominence in the '80s and '90s with iconic 2D titles like Street Fighter and Mega Man, before successfully transitioning to 3D with Resident Evil. The period between 2000 and 2010 saw Capcom modernizing its classic franchises, culminating in the critically acclaimed Resident Evil 4.

Resident Evil 4, released in 2005, is often hailed as a masterpiece for its innovative blend of horror and action. However, subsequent games struggled to maintain this balance. Resident Evil 5, for example, shifted towards more action-oriented gameplay, with sequences that felt more like Hollywood blockbusters than survival horror. This shift away from the series' core identity was evident to both players and developers, including Resident Evil 4 remake director Yasuhiro Ampo, who has been with the series since 1996.

"Overall throughout the Resident Evil series, we set up different goals, challenges, and things we want to try with each game… But this time, many of us started feeling that what the fans and players wanted from the series was getting a little bit separate from what we were making," Ampo explained. This confusion led to Resident Evil 6, which attempted to cater to both action and horror fans but ultimately satisfied neither. The series' shift towards action-heavy gameplay was met with disappointment from fans, prompting Capcom to explore new directions with spinoffs like Umbrella Corps.

Street Fighter faced similar challenges. After the success of Street Fighter 4, its sequel, Street Fighter 5, was criticized for its lack of single-player content and poor online functionality. Other key franchises, like Devil May Cry, also struggled, with Capcom outsourcing the next game, DmC: Devil May Cry, to UK-based studio Ninja Theory. Despite becoming a cult favorite, DmC's changes to the series' mythology and gameplay were met with resistance from fans, leading to a hiatus for the franchise.

Street Fighter 5, The Lost Cause

By the mid-2010s, Capcom began implementing changes to turn its fortunes around. The first step was addressing the issues with Street Fighter 5. Directors Takayuki Nakayama and producer Shuhei Matsumoto were brought in to stabilize the game and regain the trust of fans. "There definitely were some challenges within the production of the game, and that was part of the reason why I was brought into the team," Nakayama admitted. Constrained by the game's existing development path, the team focused on fixing the most pressing issues while planning for Street Fighter 6.

"We just didn’t really have enough time to address some of the problems and challenges we faced in Street Fighter V," Nakayama explained. "And so, with our hands tied behind our backs, we basically had to wait for those ideas to be brought back for the initial conceptual phases for Street Fighter 6, so we could tackle and do things properly for the next title." Matsumoto added that abandoning Street Fighter 5 was not an option; instead, the game served as a testing ground for ideas that would eventually be implemented in Street Fighter 6.

Street Fighter 5's development became an ongoing process to identify what worked and what didn't, informing the design of Street Fighter 6. Updates ranged from improving netcode and character balance to introducing new characters and mechanics like V-Shift. The overarching goal was to make the game fun again, something Street Fighter 5 had struggled to achieve. "We both realized that fighting games are fun, and when you get used to them, it becomes more enjoyable and something you can essentially play forever as long as you have an opponent to play against," Matsumoto said. "However, one of the challenges that we faced with Street Fighter V is that we felt that there wasn’t a clear pathway that helped guide players to get to that level where they finally feel like they’re having fun and will want to continue playing."

Street Fighter 6 aimed to be more approachable while still appealing to seasoned players. By using Street Fighter 5 as a testbed, Capcom was able to launch Street Fighter 6 in 2023 as one of the most critically acclaimed games in the franchise. However, to avoid future crises, Capcom needed a more significant strategic shift, which came with internal changes and the adoption of a new game engine.

Monster Hunter Took Over The World

Around the time of Street Fighter 5's launch in 2016, Capcom underwent an internal reorganization to prepare for a new generation of games powered by the RE Engine, a replacement for the aging MT Framework. This change was not just about technology but also about creating games for a global audience. "It was a few factors that came together," said Hideaki Itsuno, known for his work on Devil May Cry. "The change of the engine and also all teams were given a very clear goal at that point to make games that reach the global market. [Games] that are fun for everyone."

Capcom's focus during the PS3 and Xbox 360 era was on capturing the Western market, as seen with action-heavy titles like Resident Evil 4 and spinoffs like Umbrella Corps and Lost Planet. However, these efforts were largely unsuccessful. "I think that we had that clear goal of just focusing and not holding anything back," Itsuno said. "Towards making good games that would reach people from all over the world."

The pivotal year was 2017, with the launch of Resident Evil 7 marking the beginning of Capcom's renaissance. Monster Hunter, a series that had been primarily successful in Japan, exemplified Capcom's new global focus. Initially, the series found success on the PSP in Japan due to the strong handheld gaming market, but it struggled internationally. "20 years ago in Japan, having a network connection wasn't as easy, and there weren’t a huge amount of people playing Monster Hunter online," explained Ryozo Tsujimoto, the series' executive producer. "However, handheld consoles made multiplayer gameplay easy without internet access, and I regard it as a great success that we had players experience the game in this way, which was one of the ways we really wished for them to play and enjoy it, even in that era when online gameplay wasn't easy."

Monster Hunter's focus on cooperative play was well-suited to Japan's mobile gaming market, but this inadvertently reinforced its image as a Japan-only brand. However, with improved internet infrastructure in the West and a desire to expand globally, Capcom launched Monster Hunter: World in 2018, a game designed for a worldwide audience. "Our approach to the globalization of the series and Monster Hunter in general really ties into not only the themes that we had going into designing the game, but also in the name of the game," Tsujimoto said. "The fact that we called it Monster Hunter: World is really kind of a nod to the fact that we wanted to appeal to this worldwide audience that we wanted to really dig into and experience Monster Hunter for the first time."

Monster Hunter: World was released simultaneously worldwide without Japan-exclusive content, aligning with global standards. Focus tests helped refine the game's systems to appeal to a broader audience, resulting in sales exceeding 20 million copies for Monster Hunter: World and its follow-up, Monster Hunter Rise. "At its heart, Monster Hunter really is an action game, and that sense of accomplishment you get from really mastering that action is an important aspect of Monster Hunter," Tsujimoto explained. "But for newer players, it's really about getting to that point. The steps involved in getting to that sense of accomplishment is what we're trying to strategize for, in terms of designing for new players."

Resident Evil 7 Began Turning Things Around

While Monster Hunter had a winning formula, Resident Evil needed to find its way back to survival horror. Executive producer Jun Takeuchi decided that the series should return to its roots. "It was around the time I was working on Resident Evil Revelations 1 and 2. I was trying to test different things, try different approaches," recalled Resident Evil 2 and 4 Remake director Yasuhiro Ampo. "And around this time is when the R&D teams were divided into R&D division one and two. The executive producer of the Resident Evil series, Jun Takeuchi, took command of R&D division one, and he set the core direction that the Resident Evil series needed to go back to its origins, to its roots."

Resident Evil 7, announced at PlayStation's E3 2016 conference with a first-person perspective, marked a return to horror. "With Resident Evil 7, the executive producer, Jun Takeuchi, made it clear that we cannot underestimate how critical it is for the series for it to be scary and about survival," Ampo said. The game was a success, bringing back the series' focus on survival horror with a southern gothic setting.

Capcom continued to cater to fans of the series' third-person perspective with remakes, starting with Resident Evil 2, which became one of the best-selling Resident Evil games. "It was like, 'all right people really want this to happen.' So producer [Yoshiaki] Hirabayashi came up with the slogan: 'Well, we’ll do it,'" Ampo revealed. The success of Resident Evil 2 led to a remake of Resident Evil 3, and despite initial hesitation, Capcom also remade Resident Evil 4, fine-tuning its action-horror balance to maintain its survival horror roots.

Meanwhile, Devil May Cry director Hideaki Itsuno returned to the series after a hiatus, aiming to challenge the softened action genre. With the new RE Engine, Itsuno sought to create the coolest action game possible. "I felt like the main trend with action games was to make action games that were very kind," Itsuno admitted. "Maybe, for me, a little bit too kind to the players, lending a hand to the player too much to my liking."

The Reason Behind The Change

The RE Engine's photorealistic capabilities and nimble development environment allowed Capcom's teams to iterate quickly and achieve high visual fidelity. "So the original concept for the RE Engine was to allow for a development environment that was less stressful and could help us to make things quicker," Ampo explained. "Because it’s an internally developed engine, when we needed any additional tools, well, we could ask for them internally. They could be fixed somewhat quickly, internally, and also iterated on."

Itsuno's goal with Devil May Cry 5 was to create a game that epitomized coolness. "Devil May Cry is a franchise that stands on being cool," Itsuno said. "That’s what the franchise is, it’s about being cool. Ever since I took over the series from Devil May Cry 3, I put everything that I, as a person, I considered throughout my life to be cool. Anything I’ve seen on TV, in movies, and comics I’ve read, any sport experiences I’ve had, I try to distill everything that I think is cool into what the game is."

A New Capcom Golden Age

Since 2017, Capcom has consistently released critically acclaimed games, achieving a level of success that sets it apart from many of its peers. This success is attributed to a focus on creating globally appealing games using the advanced RE Engine. "Capcom is going through a golden era, and, well, now we have to do everything we can so that this lasts one more year, one more year, and every year, one more year," said Monster Hunter's Tsujimoto. "Hopefully we can extend it as long as we can."

Capcom's strategy of maintaining the essence of its games while expanding their global appeal has resulted in a new golden age for the company. As Street Fighter's Nakayama noted, "It’s a very exciting time to be at Capcom right now. A lot of us are able to get excited about what we’re working on and are able to focus on things that we think are fun. So, yes, I guess a golden age may be one interpretation of that." Capcom's resurgence is a testament to its ability to adapt and innovate, ensuring its place at the forefront of the gaming industry for years to come.