Topic: Capcom's Christan Svensson: It’s going to take time to rebuild those bridges

Game Informer: From an outsider, Capcom appears to be in a state of unease with its community. Fans have reacted negatively to the canceled Mega Man games, specifically the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 after they were called upon for development help. What are Capcom’s plans to win back the trust of their most hardcore fans?

Christian Svensson: This is absolutely an issue that keeps me up at night. Unfortunately there are times that we have to make decisions that don’t make sense to the community and the fallout, while understandable is regrettable. Our relationships with fans are extremely important and I know we’ve got some that are disenfranchised right now.

Unfortunately, in this situation, there is no panacea. It’s going to take time to rebuild those bridges. Product cycles are long and it’ll be a little while until fans can see the light at the end of the tunnel. And the last thing I want to do is prematurely announce something in the name of sating the fans that gets cancelled or redirected later, thereby creating an even larger wound. I can only ask for people’s patience.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2011/12/08/cap...

There's also the fans' reaction non-localization of Ace Attorney Investigations 2 which Christian Svensson has also been handling, and doing so very well in my opinion. He's been reading all the comments on the Capcom-unity thread about it and I still think there's hope for that game to be released one way or another, though probably not on DS.

capcom have been out of sorts in the last couple of years, with their constant plugging of streetfighter games. they will need to work more harder to win back the support and respect from the video game fans especially, by releasing more varied titles and not relying on streetfighter and resident evil all the time.

Capcom isn't exactly my favorite company to begin with but I do love Megaman. They killed that though, didn't they...

Why exactly are people saying this? Cancelling two risky spin-offs isn't exactly how you kill a series, you know.

@Mickeymac: maybe if it'd been separated by a span of years and if the creator of the series himself had felt it worthwhile to stick around, sure. he bailed, though, and then the two cancellations... Mega Man's in trouble, whether you choose to ignore it or not.

How do we even know the creator really had much of any involvement in the serries before he was forced out? Honestly, I still think the series will turn out just fine. Just because one person left doesn't mean suddenly Capcom no longer has any talent. The rest of the people who were working on Mega Man are still working there. They can still make a good game, without Inafune. One man does not make a game. I honestly can't wait for the next Mega Man game, which will come out. There's too much money in the series, too large a fanbase, for them to just let it die like that.

Excellent post. That sums it all up.

There's no way Mega Man Legends 3 is even an idea unless Inafune spearheaded it himself.

Funny how Mario and Zelda are still kickin and Mega man's already dead.
They've all been around about the same length. Now with all this talk about Miyamoto nearing retirement age it looks like gaming in general is in trouble.
Soon there will be nothing left but first person shooters and car jacking games.
I'm scared, somebody hold me.

@Mickeymac: it's going to take an absolutely, positively amazing game to regain the fans' trust, though. the wedge has been driven between Capcom and their fans, and any negative cracks in whatever they come up with next will be blown wide the hell open by the rabid fanbase. half of how you wind up feeling about something, whether it be a book, a movie, a TV show, a play, a visit to a park, anything, is your mindset and preconceptions before reading/watching/getting there/etc. they've lost what positive high they had beforehand with a fat chunk of their existing fanbase, and so they're going to be judged by a far harsher scale than before. again, if they can't absolutely, positively blow people away with whatever bone they throw the public next, Mega Man is pretty screwed.

Hm, I never thought about that. Ugh, I really do hate fans, you know?

If Capcom didn't have Resident Evil they would go out of business.
I don't think Street fighter is enough to keep them going either.
How many times can they keep recycling the same crap and slapping a new label on it.
I predict they'll be in the toilet within 5 years or less.

capcom will continue to rely on resident evil and streetfighter games for as long as people buy them. i'm still awaiting new games, as well as follow-ups to rival schools 2, darkstalkers 2 or 3.

Dragon's Dogma and Asura's Wrath both look promising.

they look pretty good, but nothing that exactly makes me want to buy it when it comes out instead of other games

monster hunter for the 3ds looks mighty impressive

That was absolutely amazing. I need that game now D:

Dragon's Dogma seems to have more to it than the trailer shows, it's more about exploaration in a Western RPG kinda way. Asura's Wrath I'll give you, but personally I don't think there's anything getting in the way of me buying it.

That christan svennson dude has an excellent vocabulary