Story maker

Capcom has released its latest financial results, revealing big drops in sales and revenue compared to the same time last year.

The company also revealed that Monster Hunter Stories posted "soft" sales figures and the drop-off in interest in Monster Hunter X - one of 2015's biggest successes - impacted the overall bottom line. On the positive side, Monster Hunter Generations (the global name for Monster Hunter X) has achieved "solid" sales which will see the franchise overtake Street Fighter this quarter as Capcom's second biggest series, after Resident Evil.

Moving forward, Capcom aims to push titles like Resident Evil 7 and the forthcoming Monster Hunter XX - which arrives in Japan this March - via "aggressive" marketing:

In the Digital Contents business, sales of Dead Rising 4 (for Xbox One and PC), which was released in December 2016, were firm, while the sales of Monster Hunter Stories (for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems), which targeted younger audiences, were soft. On the other hand, re-releases of popular titles Resident Evil 5 (for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) and Resident Evil 4 (for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) performed steadily thanks to a stable fanbase for the brand. Additionally, Monster Hunter Generations, known as Monster Hunter X (Cross) in Japan and Asia (for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems), achieved solid sales overseas thanks to Capcom's established brand capabilities.

The resulting net sales were 28,428 million yen (down 21.2% from the same term in the previous year), and operating income was 1,461 million yen (down 84.9% from the same term in the previous year).In the fourth quarter of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017, the Company plans on an aggressive sales campaign with the release of two major titles for the quarter RESIDENT EVIL 7 biohazard (for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC) and Monster Hunter XX (Double Cross) (for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems) in Japan.

The underperformance of Monster Hunter Stories could spell an end to the title's chances of getting a western release. Were you hoping to play it on your 3DS? Let us know with a comment.

[source dualshockers.com]