The Mega Man franchise continues to grow thanks to an additional million sales from last quarter. According to Capcom's updated Game Series Sales page, the franchise now sits at 33 million units worldwide. It's up by one million units since Q2 2018.
If last week's report is any indication, we can assume Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1+2 contributed toward the bump. As stated by Capcom just last week, "Mega Man X Legacy Collection, Mega Man X Legacy Collection 2 and Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1+2 (for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PC in all three cases) performed well thanks to a dedicated fan base and strong brand capabilities."
Do note, however, Mega Man X Legacy Collection did not achieve one million units – this according to the updated Platinum Titles list. Still, X Legacy Collection sold well enough to not only meet Capcom's expectations but bump things up to 33 million.
As for Mega Man 11, no data has been shared at this time. We'll probably know more towards the end of this quarter.
Source: Capcom Investors Relations
Vile: Ha ha ha ha ha! Why don't you just give up now and get it over with? The Mega Man series as you know it? Mega Man X9? Kiss it all goodbye! Money, corporate, and sales expectations! That's what games were built for!
ReplyDeleteAgain, this is a good sign. But man, it's not hard to feel tepid when we still have no concrete data on how well the current incarnation of the franchise is doing. It's nice that at least some parts of it are hitting the marks CAPCOM set, but if the main vehicle fails to cross the finish line, then it'll basically be done and over with. Well, I'm still cautiously optimistic, until that fateful update comes and it's confirmed either way.
ReplyDeleteIf 11 does do poorly...well, it would certainly lend a lot of credence to the idea the Mega Man franchise is outdated in the current market. But I would still say that if 11 had more content outside the not all that well-advertised challenge modes, in the form of maybe four extra stages and a whole cache of collectibles to find, it's very likely sales would be higher right now. After all, the fact games like Bloodstained and Shovel Knight are doing very well for themselves shows that games molded after classic experiences can still sell. They just have to be notably longer in their main modes to draw in potential audiences nowadays.
That's not to say 11 is a bad game at all. In fact, for a $30 price point, I'd say it's one of the best current-gen platformers, easily one of my favorite Mega Man games of all time (and this is coming from a guy who used to consider the Classic series one of the weaker ones in the franchise). I just don't think the franchise should really stay beholden to the whole "8 Robot Masters, Wily Castle" formula it's used traditionally if it wants a lot of people to feel like they're making a good investment.
I don't want to be that guy but other older games could have continued selling too, so it might not have much to do with any one game. I do believe MMXLC contributed and was the main cause of this growth though.
ReplyDeleteFor example MMLC1+2 MMXLC1+2 and MM11 were bundle many times over the past quarter. I assume they count them as separate sells though.
Now go and make Rockman/MegaMan X9. We are ready.
ReplyDeleteRelease more games, sell more games... Imagine that.
ReplyDeleteWhich is what killed the franchise in the first place, genius
DeleteWe don't know that Anon2. That is just a fan theory mostly made as an excuse for the series' lack of popularity, evident by other series releasing more games on average at a faster rate and still remaining not only popular but among the most popular.
DeleteHere's a weird thing about the list. Looking at Mega man legacy collection, sitting on a cool 1.0 million, they only count sales for PS4, Xbone and DL, which is all digital copies of the game on all platforms. This means that the switch combo pack and the 3DS physical version is not included in these stats.
ReplyDeleteThis could easily mean that the mega man X legacy collection combo pack is probably also counted separately. There's always something that skews the numbers.
This is modern Capcom. Not hitting one million means you get another 5 years worth of re-releases until they test the water again. Suppose its better than being taken out back like Legends or Dead Rising.
ReplyDeleteDude Capcom is a big company, do you understand that?
DeleteCan I use an analogy or an explanation, please try and understand the underlying message.
Let's say there are two talented programmers and they are offered two projects one where they work with a bigger team to release a bigger project that will yield potentially larger profits and one with a smaller team that will yield most likely smaller profits. The reason why they have to choose one project or the other and not both is because of business flow, meaning there needs to be a setup that allows employees to live and manage in between projects, therefor need deadlines. Another reason is because no matter the type of game, it always takes a reasonable amount of workload and time to develop, manufacture and distribute. One chooses the later and the other the former, the smaller project succeeds and gets expected reasonable returns and the larger project fails financially. Now I ask which project effected both of the developers more?
The point is even though smaller projects are less expensive and require less resources overall they still require man power and resources which detract from other projects. Game development doesn't usually work like commissions, usually developers are employed by a company and have to be paid wages. So the company has to generate enough to pay everyone even those on downtime or those that made an unsuccessful outing or even staff that have nothing to do with game development and if they cut loose all of the employees that at one point made an unsuccessful outing but are otherwise talents and skilled workers they will shrink and lose the ability to operate a certain way like having an international presence. They will also lose the ability to develop games that meet the expectations of current technology on their own relatively normally. Not to mention the human side of potentially lost jobs or competition in the market since there would be less large development studios at a similar scale meaning the big ones that do exist can treat their employees worse knowing there are fewer options to resort to.
Capcom doesn't only want large scale financial successes they need it if they are to remain a large independent publisher. In reality Capcom already had to shutdown a bunch of studios and laid off many in the past year alone. That doesn't seem like a company that could afford pumping out games just for the sake of pumping out games.