Capcom GameCube back-out revealed
Exclusive titles go multi-format, denials begin in earnest.
Resident Evil 4 the GameCube only
Capcom has backed out of releasing four of its five “exclusive” GameCube titles, opting instead to take PN 03, Killer 7, Dead Phoenix and Viewtiful Joe to multiple platforms.
The firm’s Japanese office has issued a statement overnight which contradicts everything that has gone before it, claiming that only Biohazard 4 will be exclusive to the Nintendo GameCube. This directly opposes statements issued in the past month by Capcom Europe, Capcom America, Nintendo Europe, Nintendo Japan and Nintendo of America.
Amusingly, the statement uses the old Japanese business trick of rewriting history, claiming that the titles never were intended exclusively for GameCube. This is simply not true. To think that Capcom would have let the world’s press, its own offices, and the entire Nintendo empire believe such a thing for so long is unthinkable.
So the question remains, why has this happened? Capcom sources suggest that this is the result of failed take-over talks with Nintendo, which took place through November and December of last year.
To test the water, and as an act of good faith, Capcom released screens and details on all the games at a press conference in Tokyo towards the end of last year. Several further batches of screens were released and everything was going smoothly. Then for some reason, talks between Nintendo and Capcom broke down. A rethink occurred, no doubt taking into consideration Nintendo’s poor GameCube sales over Christmas, and it was decided that the games should also be released for PlayStation 2, with perhaps one or two making their way onto Xbox.
As to why the talks between Nintendo and Capcom failed, we’ll probably never get to find out, though when the dust has settled and the saki is flowing, perhaps at this year’s E3, we’ll get some idea.
Stay tuned, there’s more of this to come.
The firm’s Japanese office has issued a statement overnight which contradicts everything that has gone before it, claiming that only Biohazard 4 will be exclusive to the Nintendo GameCube. This directly opposes statements issued in the past month by Capcom Europe, Capcom America, Nintendo Europe, Nintendo Japan and Nintendo of America.
Amusingly, the statement uses the old Japanese business trick of rewriting history, claiming that the titles never were intended exclusively for GameCube. This is simply not true. To think that Capcom would have let the world’s press, its own offices, and the entire Nintendo empire believe such a thing for so long is unthinkable.
So the question remains, why has this happened? Capcom sources suggest that this is the result of failed take-over talks with Nintendo, which took place through November and December of last year.
To test the water, and as an act of good faith, Capcom released screens and details on all the games at a press conference in Tokyo towards the end of last year. Several further batches of screens were released and everything was going smoothly. Then for some reason, talks between Nintendo and Capcom broke down. A rethink occurred, no doubt taking into consideration Nintendo’s poor GameCube sales over Christmas, and it was decided that the games should also be released for PlayStation 2, with perhaps one or two making their way onto Xbox.
As to why the talks between Nintendo and Capcom failed, we’ll probably never get to find out, though when the dust has settled and the saki is flowing, perhaps at this year’s E3, we’ll get some idea.
Stay tuned, there’s more of this to come.
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