If Capcom’s turnover and operating profit are down 10% and 5% respectively at this stage of the fiscal year, the publisher’s objectives have not changed. As of March 31, 2023, Capcom is still aiming for a turnover of 125 billion yen (882 million euros) and an operating profit of 50 billion yen (352.8 million euros), which would be worth ensure its growth for the 10th consecutive year. If Capcom displays such confidence, it is certainly partly thanks to the expected success of the remake of Resident Evil 4, which will be released on March 24, but not only.
Capcom aims for a record 40 million games distributed this fiscal year
For the entire fiscal year, Capcom is aiming for a record 40 million games distributed worldwide, knowing that the publisher has already sold 29.1 million between April and December 2022 (compared to 25.8 million on the same period a year earlier). In addition to the sales of Monster Hunter Rise which has just been released on PlayStation and Xbox, Capcom continues to sell many games from its past catalog, in large part thanks to dematerialization. It’s very simple, on a target of 40 million games, Capcom estimates that physical sales will only represent 4 million units, or 10% of the total. In addition, the novelties of the exercise (mainly Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak and Resident Evil 4) will account for 10 million sales, which means that the vast majority of the lot (30 million) will be to the credit of the back catalog.
In this register, Capcom continues to sell games like Monster Hunter Rise (11.7 million), Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak (5 million), Devil May Cry 5 (6.5 million), Resident Evil 2 (11.2 million ), Resident Evil 3 (6.4 million), Monster Hunter World: Iceborne (10 million) or even Street Fighter V (7 million). So many sales that are essentially made by downloading. The bottom line is that Capcom is gearing up for its best year ever by releasing just one big new game (Resident Evil 4) and one expansion (Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak ), which says a lot about the good health of its catalog.
As of December 31, 2022, Capcom has distributed 135 million Resident Evil games, 90 million Monster Hunter games, and 49 million Street Fighter games. Then come the franchises Mega Man (38 million), Devil May Cry (28 million) and Dead Rising (15 million).