The developer of the more recent Dead Rising games, and Capcom’s flagship Western studio, has been shut down. In a statement sent to Kotaku, the Japanese publisher said that the decision to shutter the branch was made after a review of its in-production projects. Essentially, it’s opted to bin the lot and “concentrate development of major titles in Japan”.
Of course, this means that 158 jobs will be lost. However, a skeleton crew will be retained until January to finalise the closure of the firm. Unfortunately, the writing’s been on the wall for a while, after Capcom downscaled the studio by about 30 per cent earlier in the year. Dead Rising 4 was not particularly successful, and a late PlayStation 4 port did little to improve its prospects.
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The whole process of the closure and the cancelled projects that come with it is going to cost Capcom about ¥4.5 billion (~$40 million). Naturally, our thoughts go out to all of those who have lost their jobs.
[source kotaku.com]
Comments 19
rather than have the studio stagnate by way of making pointless sequels to a middling ip and/or mobile trash titles, they should have been given the opportunity to flex their creative side and take a few risks... could have worked out in capcom's favour... and even it hadn't, the outcome would be no different than playing it safe as we have just seen.
It always sucks to hear something like this. Hopefully the people affected by this will find something out their for them. And I’m hoping this isn’t the last of Dead Rising, I actually like the series.
I hope the peoples in vancouver get another job quickly. I think western focused titles is not working on capcom, when they're going full japanese with monhun world, the game become the best selling titles ever for capcom.
Good the last few dead rising games was pure garbage.
@Porco Maybe they were working on something new, though? Capcom evaluates the in-progress projects and pulled the plug.
@get2sammyb it was confirmed they were working on dead rising 5. i don't think too many people will bat an eye over the cancellation of that game.
Feel bad for the people that lose their jobs.
I’m really sorry for the people who lost their jobs, hope they find a new job soon. It’s always sad when a gaming studio closes.
I enjoyed Dead Rising 3, it’s fun, even if many fans of the original games complained about the new formula. Looks like that Dead Rising 4 didn’t do well on sales too. I never played the recent game, but many players and critics didn’t like it, also the deal with MS wasn’t good for the series after all.
Years ago, Capcom tried to make their games more Western, thinking that it would have great sales over here, but now they know that gamers here love Japanese games, Monster Hunter World is an example. Now they are also bringing back Devil May Cry and Resident Evil 2 remake will be a success.
I actually liked dead rising 4, but they did drop the ball in a lot of ways with it. It was way too short and not much to do for such a large world. Plus the multiplayer was a huge step back from 2. Felt like a step back from 2 in a lot of ways.
Sadly this news doesn’t surprise me but I wish they had a shot to get things right with 5.
@PS_Nation the series has kinda lost its touched after DR2. Like you, I also enjoyed 3 despite what everyone said. It’s 4 that’s the problem. I can’t get over Frank West new voice.
Best wishes to those now unemployed. DR4 was
a hard pill to swallow for a series fan but it had it's moments, and good on them for trying to patch some of the issues the fans complained about. Here's to hoping Deadrising sees another installment down the line.
@shonenjump86 Yeah, many fans of DR1 and 2 were not happy with the recent games. I can't complain about it because I enjoyed the third game. Looks like the developers of the studio tried to create some new games and ips, but Capcom wasn't happy with how the series performed overall, they didn't get the funds for new games and now that happened.
I hope everyone can get new Jobs quickly and work on something that they love
I think DR3 and 4 were OK - nothing more than average but still OK. Big dumb fun which may have counted against it in todays gaming climate with more 'serious' game direction.
I can't say I am 'disappointed' though that DR5 is now very unlikely but I do hop that the devs can find work within the industry. Its never great to hear about people losing their jobs.
I really enjoyed Dead Rising 1 and 2, but once the series went into 3 and 4, I think the games got pretty forgettable. Sucks to hear these guys are gone.
I’m actually gutted about this, while I agree 3 and 4 were not as good as 1 and 2, I still loved them. Stuck a lot of hours into then and I was hoping for more. Especially when they said they were doubling down on Dead Rising earlier this year.
Wow that’s amazing that Dead rising 4 didn’t sell!! I absolutely had a blast with that game and DR3!! Chopping up those zombies was soooo satisfying!! Even bought the PS4 version!! What the hell?? Oh What a shame! Good luck to those folks! I guess the franchise dies too! 🤢
Some people really disliked DR4, I found it quite enjoyable to play, though a bit cringe worthy at times. Also found the included DLC (and game overall) was quite glitchy, I got stuck with a save just before a section in the DLC that crashed repeatedly and couldn't be bothered restarting it. It is totally different to DR1, which I did complete and I can appreciate is a much better game overall.
I just think they were trying to chase the market with DR4, so I can understand the move to make the series more 'accessible' seemed unappealing to fans. Similar to Resident Evil 6 I suppose, maybe Capcom can bring it back with improvements.
I wonder if this is why they never brought over Dead Rising 3 to PS4?
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