Capcom, fresh off months of sluggish sales, is keen to make more video games. More video games might mean more sales!
According to an article on Nikkei.com, Capcom is speeding up the development cycle on its games from 4 years to 1 ~ 2 years faster.
The company currently releases about 2 name Capcom franchise titles a year. Moving forward, Capcom is planning each year to release 3 or 4 big titles like Resident Evil, etc.
Capcom will continue to outsource development to American and European developers in order to release the vast number of titles it does. Dead Rising 2 was outsourced as was Bionic Commando.
Street Fighter IV, for that matter, was also outsourced, but not to a Western developer. Osaka-based Dimps developed the title.
Faster development cycles keep games current, relevant and manage expectations. When games are in development for five, six years, it becomes incredibly hard for them to meet the pent-up expectations of players.
ゲームソフト、開発短縮 カプコンやバンダイナムコ [Nikkei]