Capcom hit with layoffs, including senior VP Christian Svensson

Capcom senior VP Christian Svensson says he has left the company voluntarily, as part of a reorganization at the company that resulted in other job losses as well.

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As part of a company reorganization, Capcom was hit with layoffs today. The number of employees affected is unknown so far, but we do know that former senior VP Christian Svensson, who has often doubled as a spokesman for the company, has left the publisher.

Polygon reports that Svensson volunteered himself to go as part of the reorganization. He noted that he's "not the only one affected," and that he'll be gathering resumes from his displaced colleagues and trying to help them find new work.

"I've had the opportunity to interface with the best fans any company could ever hope to have," he wrote on Facebook. "I know that I wasn't always able to deliver what they wanted, but I promise that I did my best to champion their needs and wants. So thank you to the fans who made my job rewarding, challenging, and, if nothing else, interesting.

"While I wish the company the best of luck, Capcom is going in a different direction and the need for people at my level, relative to other areas, is lacking. Those who know me well, know that I've been ready to go for quite some time. We tried some things that worked. We tried others that didn't. We fought fights that were worth fighting and even won a few. I'm proud of what we accomplished."

Update: Capcom responded with this statement:

"Capcom today laid off several employees from the US office as part of an overall organizational restructure of the company. The transition to the new generation of hardware and changing industry landscape have required us to adapt our business to best meet our new goals. We sincerely thank each individual for their contributions and wish them well."

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  • reply
    July 11, 2013 11:30 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Capcom hit with layoffs, including senior VP Christian Svensson.

    Capcom senior VP Christian Svensson says he has left the company voluntarily, as part of a reorganization at the company that resulted in other job losses as well.

    • reply
      July 11, 2013 12:23 PM

      Love that "falling on the sword" bit, if you couldn't manage it properly, you walk the plank

    • reply
      July 11, 2013 12:29 PM

      Svensson was a cool guy. He answered a few of my emails. I know it's hard to deal with a community as demanding as Street Fighter and Mega Man fans. I'm sure he'll find a good gig elsewhere.

    • reply
      July 11, 2013 12:35 PM

      Good move for Christian (and good on him for volunteering himself), but it's yet more flailing by Capcom in the past couple of years. They oversaturated Street Fighter (which was involved in on-disc DLC controversies that Svensson himself attempted to dampen). They released a fundamentally broken game in Steel Batallion: Heavy Armor, and a creatively bankrupt game in Resident Evil 6 (which they were banking on to sell something like 6+ million copies worldwide, but fell significantly short).

      They also used to have an annual press event in April called "Captivate". It was in Hawaii in 2010, in Miami in 2011, in Rome in 2012... and cancelled in 2013. I also imagine that Dead Rising 3 being an XBox One exclusive is a hedge against high development costs, and getting exclusivity with Microsoft is probably offsetting some of the dev budget.

      As for how Capcom will interface with their community going forward, that's a good question to ask Capcom. Because they still have a bit of explaining to do.

      • reply
        July 11, 2013 12:55 PM

        Capcom isn't publishing Dead Rising 3 Microsoft is. That is why it is a Xbox exclusive.

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          July 11, 2013 2:01 PM

          Oh. Well, at that point, Capcom's involvement seems to be IP ownership, and maybe testing. That seems to point even more at cost containment efforts, which shouldn't be a surprise after Capcom's last fiscal year.

    • reply
      July 11, 2013 2:44 PM

      Fists will fly at this location!

    • reply
      July 12, 2013 12:59 PM

      Everyone knows that's why the economy is the worst now.

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