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While it’s a common knowledge that Capcom has closed their U.S. arcade division in 2004, nobody was surprised when Capcom continued selling their arcade products in the US till now. So why am I writing this!? Well, apparently,

Proof? Apart from 1) the shutting down of their division 2) the lack of any new arcade-exclusive game or any support for older games (CPS3 battery issues apparently didn’t die with the division) 3) insanely high price tag of new arcade kits , I’d say the latest form of proof ironically comes in the form of an (originally) arcade game, named Super Street Fighter IV ARCADE Edition….

Don’t get me wrong, the game itself is not bad. The decision to release it in console version (despite the name) is not that bad, either. But the thing about this is the timing of the release itself. Aside from Japan, the rest of the world only got SSFIVAE kits weeks before the console version announcement, which means they only have 3-4 months to attracted players to their arcades.

Yes, I know that some arcades that dedicated themselves to competitive fighting games ( Fightcades) got no problems with this. But did capcom ever gave a thought about how common arcade can profit from SSFIVAE? With the kit price at approximately 8500$ and only months before console release, I’m quite sure not many arcade can profit (let alone survive!).

Why is Capcom doing this? Because they knew that releasing arcade version globally just months beforehand can create the hypes and demands they want for the actual console release, and they still profits from the arcade release! Instead of doing it the old way (release the arcade version then wait a while for arcades to gain profit before releasing a console version), they chose this method to generate demand easily without having to work much on the console-only features.

And though the short term result seems like a win for capcom, the long term is not. Doing this -> Arcade operators pissing off -> they won’t buy any more capcom arcades -> the softcore fighting fans won’t go to the fightcades, so they got no exposed of any new releases -> eventually no new players -> old players getting bored/ died -> end of fighting games ( and arcade ! )

So, wake up Capcom! Stop being a d*ck and let us all live together peacefully. Nobody will be able to love you anymore if you keep this up.

Suggested reading:

http://arcadeheroes.com/2011/08/23/capcom-details-changes-being-made-to-ssfiv-ver-2012-as-it-tests-in-japanese-arcades/

http://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/news/html/e040405b.html

Tags: Capcom, scene