According to Capcom Japan's licensee relations page, the company have begun recruiting partners to help produce a range of Mega Man-related goods for several upcoming anniversaries. The next few years look to be pretty promising for collectors...
Capcom are looking for partners to produce commemorative products in time for the following events:
Mega Man franchise 30th Anniversary (December 17, 2017)
Mega Man Zero series 15th Anniversary (April 26, 2017)
Mega Man Legends 20th Anniversary (December 18, 2017)
Mega Man X 25th Anniversary (December 17, 2018)
Mega Man Battle Network's 15th anniversary is this year and already we've been treated to numerous figures, soundtracks and books. Capcom are indeed looking to honor each of the above series in a similar fashion in the coming years. That's right; we may actually get some good Legends figures out of this (among other things).
Now, as for Mega Man Star Force and Mega Man ZX, Capcom are NOT recruiting partners for those particular series just yet. A certain criteria has to be met by individual Mega Man series -- a minimum of 15 years of life -- to be eligible for license grants. It would appear we will see little to no Star Force or ZX goods for at least a few more years.
So to sum all this up, Capcom WILL be celebrating individual anniversaries for X, Zero and Legends. This doesn't necessarily mean there will be games but we can expect lots of merchandise.
If there's one constant in this world it's this: there will always be Mega Man merchandise.
Source: Capcom Licensing Business
I'd like to see the Zero series remastered... PS4, trophies, hand draw sprites, remixed music, the whole 9 yards.
ReplyDeleteWishful thinking, I know.
I'm hoping the same for the X series. Even better if the story were retold and you got to do more with X's charged shot upgrades.
DeleteMaverick Hunter X was a great redo. I would love to see more along those lines. I'd even settle for just the Animated version.
DeleteI hope we get good Legends figures out of this, Also I'm going wait patiently for the next five years to finally see Star Force get some love(ZX too.) but somehow I doubt they'll actually commemorate it regardless.
ReplyDeleteSentinal's 4inchnel line is going to town with figures...
DeleteIf they succeed I am sure we will see some new ones we haven't seen yet.
The adaptors and Cutman are already a welcome start. And all of these things were announced before the first figure was even released.
But as far as Capcom goes, I fully expect disappointment...
I want good figures... like from Hasbro or from Mattel. No shitty chink stuff, they are small there i want a 6 inch Megaman...
DeleteAre you joking? Mega Man figures from bandai, Sentinel, etc. are LEAGUES better than the $15 crap from Hasbro
Delete@Anonymous October 23 5:16pm - 1st: chink is a racist word, so kindly shut the hell up with that awful word. 2nd: Hasbro and Mattel toys are garbage now. They haven't made anything of quality since the 90's.
Deletedamn it, i tought capcom eas licencing the franchise for games... still good enought
ReplyDeletei'll mark this anniversary as an eventful as 25th anniversary. either we're treating with games for mega man, wake me up when they do announce a game in next 100 years.
ReplyDeleteMore merchandise because it sells. It has sold for years. It will continue to sell.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what this franchise would be able to achieve with a company that actually took full advantage of its marketability. There's clearly something appealing about it as a property. It just needs to be handled appropriately.
"More merchandise because it sells. It has sold for years. It will continue to sell."
DeleteYep, and people are feeding the cycle because supposedly "Capcom is gauging interest in Mega Man games by looking at merchandise sales". Maybe everyone should quit buying the merchandise so Capcom will be forced to either make a new game or sell the IP to someone who actually cares.
Capcom has plenty of franchises who can clearly sell in merchandise/games but has no desire to sell the IP, why would Mega Man be different? Because it could be a seller? Mega Man has never sold well enough as a Game Franchise. Plenty of games never reached beyond 500,000 units and Mega Man 2 for the NES still holds highest selling for 2 million, which is laughable for a series this old. Capcom won't ever sell the IP. If it stops making mechandise money, it will simply be retired.
DeleteWhy would a drop in merchandise sales force Capcom to do anything?
Delete"Why would a drop in merchandise sales force Capcom to do anything?"
DeleteBecause right now merchandise is basically their only income source for Mega Man, and they seem OK with that as long as the merch continues to sell. If the merch income went away, then their main two options to make Mega Man profitable again would be to start making new games or sell the IP to someone else (who would hopefully make new games). Yes, there would be a third option of just mothballing Mega Man altogether, but I would think that the fanbase would be too large for Capcom to go that route.
Doubtful. This whole fan base size thing doesn't add up to me.
DeleteI don't think Capcom has any incentive to make a new game. The fan base is split in 7 directions (7 series) and the so called spiritual successor Mighty No 9 was not exactly a sales dynamo.
If I were Capcom, I would be thinking a new game is not a good investment.
I hate it, but that's just what I observe.
If their merch sales decline that would be further evidence the brand is dead, dying, or not worth it.
"If their merch sales decline that would be further evidence the brand is dead, dying, or not worth it."
DeleteFull circle.
"the so called spiritual successor Mighty No 9 was not exactly a sales dynamo"
DeleteYeah, but Mighty No 9's less than stellar sales could be attributed to a lot of things other than a general lack of interest. (i.e. community drama, bad advertising, etc.) Gunvolt sold well enough for a sequel to be made though, and the success of games like Shovel Knight and Freedom Planet make me think that Capcom should be able to make a profit. In fact, given that Capcom already has established the Mega Man brand, they should theoretically have a vast advantage over the new IPs by Inti Creates, Yacht Club Games, and GalaxyTrail. However, in the end I guess it would all come down to the quality of the new Mega Man game and how well Capcom managed the project.
MN9 is not a primary reason, but a lot of people had eyes on it as an example of what Capcom might have been missing out of. The hope of the project was as a proof to Capcom that a market for new Mega Man games was there.
DeleteBut, as a result of the project, Capcom MAY (not necessarily) have gotten the exact opposite message.
Despite the funding, and all the other issues, the project is easily a dismal failure.
That being said, if anyone can make a good Mega Man game at this point its absolutely Inti Creates.
Personally, I want a new game. But I also like high quality figures. So if they release some high quality figures, I will buy them. Especially if Sentinal does a figure of Iris or Alia...
And if Capcom DOES release a new game, please on a console and not the 3DS.
The only message Capcom should get from Mighty Number 9 as far as interest in the series is that Mega Man fans are passionate enough to fund a game like that in the first place. Going far above and beyond the initial kickstarter goal.
Deletedon't be illogical, man. If the merc stop selling, then for capcom it will just mean that doing stuff about megaman is not profitable. if something like this happen, they won't go making game about a serie that "does'nt even interest peoples" (speaking by putting myself in their places in such situation, of course). if the franchise can't sell anything even merc, then they will just stop doing anything about it once an fo all, that's what logical reasoning company do in a market based economy.
DeleteTo be clear, i'm NOT saying that buying the merc will lead to more game being made, since it would be wrong, merc and games are two different things. But for now, megaman is just a mascott franchise, and for a mascott, you make merchandise.
there are some other reasons why i think doing a megaman game now would be profitable, but that's another debate with no relation to merchandising whatseover.
I'm inclined to agree with those saying that merch sales dropping wouldn't do anything to convince Capcom to make a new game.
DeleteThat said, I don't think we should see anybody saying that if merch does sell that Capcom will make a new game or that their gauging interest or whatever else. They've been holding that metaphorical gun over the franchise for years, it's pretty clear they aren't too terribly interested in making a new game, aside from trying to cash in on whatever the cartoon ends up being next year.
They have already failed to capitalize on any number of things to help push Mega Man this generation and even squandered big promotions that were literally handed to them by other companies with no attempt on their part to take advantage of those opportunities.
Everyone should basically expect the bare minimum from Capcom in regards to Mega Man from here on out.
I rather the games.. No merchandise please!
ReplyDeletewhile id love starforce/zx merch for their 10th anniversaries - i'm willing to wait 5 more years to get an official, high quality figure of subaru/geo or misora/sonia. hopefully capcom gives us a ton of starforce merch!
ReplyDeleteI want Luna. Luna is love, Luna is life.
DeleteSeriously Capcom, there's a lot of really big anniversaries coming up so *please* release a new sequel of some sort. Don't ruin the celebration by just releasing more merchandise.
ReplyDeleteMerchandise is always welcome, especially for collectors like me.
DeleteBut I do agree that we're due for a game, especially with the 30th anniversary being next year.
Star Force and ZX both turn 10 this year, I know they aren't the biggest series' but they do have their fans, especially in recent years.
Star Force could benefit from a collection that utilizes the 3DS' Online capabilities and 3D utility, especially with Nintendo Wi-Fi connection shut down, I could see extra features being included mostly the dummied out content that the japanese releases always had, like Noise Kaizou Gear for MMSF3 and etc. Fans of the PvP in the series would really appreciate this, as would those who never got to experience that and other connectivity features within the series.
Inti Creates is on a roll with 2D action games with Gunvolt and Gunvolt 2 and People have been starved for more Mega Man action, why not remaster the ZX games or make a third in honor of the anniversary? I'm sure people would buy them now knowing we haven't had a new Mega Man title in forever and the ZX games were really nice experiences.
I dunno I feel like Capcom turning their back on MMSF and MMZX just because they aren't 15 yet is a little ridiculous, it wouldn't be if they weren't anywhere near an anniversary, but they're now clocking in at a decade old this year, something to commemorate would've been nice.
"why not remaster the ZX games or make a third in honor of the anniversary?"
DeleteYou have no idea how excited I would be if a third ZX game was released. It would be a great way to mark any of these milestones.
A ZX3, Legends 3, or X9 solely for the purpose of closing the story lines would be nice.
DeleteAs it is, they are left open ended and that just sucks.
seeing starforce being rereleased on the eshop for either 3DS, wiiu, or nx/switch would be a real treat - same with zx. the other gameboy/DS games got the same treatment for them within the past year or two, anyways.
Deletebut if anything, i would've loved some starforce merch this year - i think a 10th anniversary is still a HUGE milestone, and a lot of fans of the series (like myself) are searching for fanmade content to import due to capcom's lacking merchandise... i guess the same could be said for zx as well. it just sucks, having your favorite series be the two that are most often overlooked or criticized by the fanbase. id love to see zx3 or starforce 4, but i know that's unlikely, so im willing to take high quality figures and other trinkets to make up for it.
...and no, capcom, im not talking about the takara tomy action figures.
@Dani Straton, I'm with you on getting high quality Star Force figures, but I do want to point out that the Takara Tomy ones are pretty awesome, I got all four(really happy to own Ice Pegasus) and they're probably my favorite Mega Man figures out of everything I have, which includes D-Arts X, Zero, MMZero, and Sentinel's 4 inch Mega Man, Mega Man.EXE and Mega Man.EXE Hub Style(All of Sentinels line so far has been amazing though which is why I said probably) and much more, it might be because they're the only figures Star Force has but at the same time I just think they're really nice figurines with above average articulation, I would've freaked out if I got something of that kind of quality as a kid.
DeleteHow about a frickin game? Huh? How's that for an anniversary, eh Capcom?
ReplyDeleteHaving Legends figures would be the dream
ReplyDeleteO.O!!!! How soon do you think we will see those Legends figures...hypothetically speaking? I've wanted a well made Megaman Voulnutt figure since 2000!
ReplyDeleteI do like that the spinoff series are going to yield more merchandise. However, a new game for any of these series would be incredibly welcome.
ReplyDeleteAll I ask is that they not half-ass it. Hoping for a SH Figuarts or 4InchNel Megaman Volnutt, myself.
ReplyDeleteOr Capcom could do their jobs and make games...
ReplyDeleteJust a suggestion.
Well, I mean I would've prefered a Battle Network collection this year, but if all of this means I get to replace this tiny little Rock Volnutt figure with something better and easily accessible, I'm in for next year: https://i.imgur.com/3oP2j9k.jpg
ReplyDelete"If there's one constant in this world it's this: there will always be Mega Man merchandise."
ReplyDeletePrior to 2010 you could have said the same thing about the games.
"The next few years look to be pretty promising for collectors..."
ReplyDeleteThat is a very depressing thing to read given the state the Mega Man IP is currently in.
If there is no games until 2020, i would want to talk with those people who support this commercial way for megaman (who is not more interesting than the Hello Kitty commercials stuff) in 2021, just to know if they are still fan of megaman.
ReplyDeleteThe most important is new games, actually a ton of megaman fan have left a lot of communities and switched for some others series, some others did it but still hope for something new (like me), some others still think there will be new games (but they must be rare).
Commercial commercial toys , it's boring. I started to sell some figures and stuff when i realized how games were really the thing who make a serie alive, goodies are cool but without games, it has no value for me, except for the goodies before 2010 when there was the real last megaman game.
But yeah, let's support capcom strategy till the end....it's all good to be positive!
I think, it's cool to not be mad at capc' but better to not be naive too, at least, not too much ;)
I still want the come back of megaman X and classic but i must say i love the strategy/action game of MMBN, this game needed fun skill :)
Geez, i wonder if we will be getting another PORT. It's not like we want new games or anything.
ReplyDeleteIf Capcom makes high quality figures of the Maverick animal bosses from the X series, I will definitely look into buying them. I have enough X figures as it stands.
ReplyDeleteHonestly it feels almost insulting that they plan on celebrating Legends Anniversary with merchandise, on what would be half a decade since Legends 3 was cancelled.
ReplyDeleteI can't begin to imagine how they hope to actually pull off a Legends anniversary properly when all it's gonna do is bring back the sour memories of Capcom deliberately sabotaging the Legends 3 prototype
So how come TOMY made toys for Megamman Starforce?
ReplyDeletewake me up when new ZX stuff comes out
ReplyDelete