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Capcom says it has no plans to eliminate physical media

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Was there a rumour they would stop?
No, but their most recent game, Kunitsu Gami, has received a digital only release.

And then there's also the Monster Hunter Stories Collection which received a physical release in North America but only for Switch, while the PS4 physical is exclusive to Europe. :/ On top of that, both the PS4 and Switch versions of the MHS Collection come with the 2nd game as voucher/download code. It's just a half-assed way to do a physical release and I wish they would stop doing that.

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Mr Reasonable

Completely Unreasonable
No, but their most recent game, Kunitsu Gami, has received a digital only release.

And then there's also the Monster Hunter Stories Collection which received a physical release in North America but only for Switch, while the PS4 physical is exclusive to Europe. :/ On top of that, both the PS4 and Switch versions of the MHS Collection come with the 2nd game as voucher/download code. It's just a half-assed way to do a physical release and I wish they would stop doing that.

Sounds like they've no plans to stop physical entirely, but with not all titles getting a physical release already, they'll follow the market and if I were a betting man, I'd say they'll gradually do less and less.
 

near

Member
Q. In the past, this was a highly volatile industry where a new release in one fiscal year would
drive large earnings growth, with a comparative drop in earnings in the next fiscal year.
Recently however, we no longer see this pattern in Capcom’s earnings. Further, the company
has achieved increased operating profit of over 10% each year. What has driven this?

A. In the past, we primarily sold games at physical retail stores, where we would typically sell a
new game that was placed on the limited space of stores shelves for a period of
approximately six months. However, accompanying the digital shift, in recent years game
makers have become able to sell games directly online, which allows us to carry out pricing
strategies as well as discounts on past series titles in conjunction with the launch of a new
release. Thanks to this, unit sales continue to grow even today for titles such as Resident Evil
7 biohazard , which was released seven years ago, as well as for Monster Hunter : World ,
which was released six years ago. Further, we thoroughly manage our medium-term
development schedule by maintaining a 5-year development map that enables us to
effectively time the release of new titles. This has led us to think that the game industry
overall has shifted to one of low volatility due to a change in our business model, via which
we can continue to sell games over the long term as the ratio of digital title sales increases.

This is quite a good point made here that I think gets overlooked a lot from a consumer perspective. The shelf life of digital games are much longer and allows devs to continue making money off old games through steep discounts. So between devs cycles they’re able to continue generating a steady flow of income from old games. As opposed to the retail market which would be recycling discs that Capcom would have no share in. I suppose the IP has to be reasonably strong in order for the returns to be significant, but it is still a sustainable revenue stream regardless. If they’re making statements like this it is very obvious that Capcom’s long term goal is to transition entirely to digital. So don't get fooled by the thread title, people are just coping with an inevitable reality.
 
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Comandr

Member
As they just released Kunitsu-Gami without a physical release............
Cool, recently picked up Dragon's Dogma 2 physical but had to get Path of the Goddess digital *because there is no physical release* 🤷‍♂️
Is there even an OT for Kunitsu-Gami?

…there’s your answer.

Capcom probably understands its market well enough that it isn’t going to bother releasing physical editions of what it expects to be very low volume games.

Notice how RE7 on iOS didn’t get a physical release.
 

Evil Calvin

Afraid of Boobs
Is there even an OT for Kunitsu-Gami?

…there’s your answer.

Capcom probably understands its market well enough that it isn’t going to bother releasing physical editions of what it expects to be very low volume games.

Notice how RE7 on iOS didn’t get a physical release.
That's fine....just don't say ............

Capcom says it has no plans to eliminate physical media​

 

Nok Su Kow

Member
*unless you are in Europe lol

I've had to import every Ace Attorney game, Onimusha, Resident Evil ports and the Dead Rising rereleases
 

Comandr

Member
That's fine....just don't say ............

Capcom says it has no plans to eliminate physical media​

I don’t think there’s necessarily anything wrong with the quote. It could be misleading, I don’t disagree with that.

I could say … I have no plans to stop eating cake. To stop buying games. To stop listening to Majima sing Promiscuous.

That doesn’t mean I have to do any of those things regularly or consistently.
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
They say just days after releasing Path of Goddess digitally only.

Capgod, you cheeky cunts.

You Got Me Lol GIF by BrownSugarApp
 
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xrnzaaas

Member
I'm not really sure it Capcoms choice tbh, if the console manufacturers don't want it any more they'll have to follow suite
It's up to the customers to speak up and convince console manufacturers to continue offering a disc model. It seems that the blowback after the big MS leak from a while back worked, because they didn't introduce only digital models with the refresh and also the og XSX is still available in the stores.
 
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