Capcom Gives Up on 'Foreign' Original Titles

Japanese developer and publisher Capcom intends to stop commissioning original games from foreign developers as part of the response to its recent revelation that profits dropped 73% over the last year, 1up spotted the Financial Times reporting.

"As a group, the new titles where development was led from abroad didn't do so well," Capcom president Haruhiro Tsujimoto told the newspaper. Capcom's annual financial report blamed the poor sales performance of foreign projects Bionic Commando and Dark Void in part for the past year's profits plummet, among other factors.

Bionic Commando and Dark Void.

Airtight's Dark Void sold only 520,000 copies even after the USA studio's jetpacking shooter was delayed "to avoid competition with releases of major titles of other companies," far short of the 2 million copies mark Capcom had once expected to reach.

Now-closed Swedish developer GRIN's Bionic Commando also underperformed, selling only around 700,000 copies instead of the 1.5 million Capcom had hoped for.

The Financial Times reports that in future Capcom will "employ overseas developers for sequels or new versions of existing games only," which are on safer financial ground.