Media studies – Video games
Capcom

WJEC EDUQAS

Industry

Click on the link to study the Capcom website. What notes can you make under each heading? Click on the eye to study the suggested notes.


Website
Capcom’s website has separate portals for different parts of the world in different languages, proving the global reach of the site.
There are forums, a blog and other interactive features: there is even space for fans to post their ideas for a game.
The ‘community’ part of the site runs competitions and hosts exclusive content.
Marketing
Capcom marketing campaigns are typically extravagant.
A significant marketing campaign was developed by the media tech firm Celtra, and relied on social media content. This demonstrates the creative ways in which Capcom maintains an audience within competitive environments.
See: http://mobilemarketingmagazine.com/d-177/
Games
Capcom is best known for producing
The Resident Evil franchise
The Street Fighter franchise
Devil May Cry
Success
In 2014, the consumer (Package and digital download contents) market was worth 21.6 billion dollars (down 8.9% from the previous year), the third straight year of negative growth. This was due to
(1) a limited supply of major titles despite the steadily increasing switchover to current game consoles
(2) the declining average unit price of software.
However, in line with network infrastructure developments and the establishment of the online premium model, the digital download market, involving the download of full games, add-on content and past archive titles, is clearly growing, providing a degree support to the slumping market, which expanded globally to 8.7 billion dollars (up 17.6% compared to the previous year) (from http://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/business/market.html).
Other Media
Capcom have licensed their properties to other media (Sulepeter publishes CDs, DVDs, and other media based on Capcom's games), diversifying their output.
They have developed motion pictures based on two of their properties: Resident Evil and Street Fighter. This demonstrates synergy between the two mediums.