Brendan Sinclair North American Editor Tuesday 13th October 2015 Share this article Share

Companies in this article Capcom

Capcom's sold on the future of virtual reality. The company today released its "Integrated Report 2015," in which it confirms VR as a major point of emphasis for its Development Division 1, the group responsible for the Resident Evil franchise and headed up by Resident Evil 5 producer Jun Takeuchi.

"At present, we are focusing our energy on challenging the virtual reality (VR) game market," the company's Development Division 1 summary states. "In this terrifying world, you can twist and turn as you like, but there's no escaping the creatures closing in on you...until you remove your VR headset and return to reality, that is. We delivered this very experienced [sic] with our 'Kitchen' VR technical demo at E3 2015. The response was excellent. Currently, we are building a new game development engine able to support VR, which is the hottest market right now, while simultaneously developing titles for current game consoles. We have just set sail on our latest voyage."

Capcom said the division works to develop IP with strong worldwide appeal, not only meeting fans' demands for new entries in popular series but providing them experiences they didn't necessarily know they wanted.

"The point is to be able to develop something that is a half-step ahead of user expectations-expectations which aren't readily apparent in the marketing data. To achieve this, we create teams that band tightly together while making use of each member's individual skills. As we are setting out into unexplored territory there are plenty of obstacles to overcome, but we do this together and enjoy the adventure; in this sense, we have to create a team similar to a band of pirates."

Capcom detailed four major consumer games development divisions in the organization. Division 2 was described as "a service-oriented business rather than a sell-through oriented business," with an online focus put to use on titles like Street Fighter V and Monster Hunter Frontier. Division 3 has been dedicated to "Capcom's most symbolic intellectual property," Monster Hunter, but a recent restructuring has also put Sengoku Basara and Ace Attorney under its responsibilities. Finally, Capcom Asia is focused on bringing the company's games to China and Southeast Asia, either through partnerships (with Tencent on Monster Hunter Online) or through expansion (the creation of Capcom Taiwan).