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Mark Beaumont, Capcom’s EVP, Officer, and head of consumer software publishing for North America, South America and Europe sat down with TS2 to share some insights in to Capcom and his own success story.
You’ve been enjoying really amazing success recently with Dead Rising and Lost Planet. They both have sold more than a million units primarily in the West. What would you say the key reasons are for the success?
"There’s a couple. One is, you start with the obvious: they’re both good games and they’re both critically acclaimed. The second thing is, this is what the company is emphasizing right now, adding games which were created for the western market. They were both made for the Xbox 360. Capcom Japan knew there was a chance there was not going to be a large Xbox 360 market in Japan, because the Xbox had not performed there as well. That turned out to be true. So they knew if the games were going to sell they needed to sell in North America and Europe. So they created a product that was really designed for the western market. They made the commitment years before they knew for sure the 360 was going to be successful, but they knew it would be the first new hardware system for the next generation. We worked closely with Microsoft to make sure we had promotions lined up and support plans set worldwide. But the key element here was, when I came on board in October 2005, really looking at making sure we had the right sales and marketing structure, and the right kind of innovative thinking about how we bring the products to market. And by focusing on that we were really able to increase the performance of the products significantly over what I think it would’ve done otherwise."
"In Dead Rising’s case it was a very simple message of what the game’s about, and so very easy to communicate to consumers. In Lost Planet’s case it was a little more involved, first person shooter. There are plenty of successful first person shooters in the market. Gears of War shipped from Microsoft two months before Lost Planet. So there, our battle was to really raise the level of the awareness of the product so that people would see this as yet another good game in this category. We also had the foundation of falling back on the fact that Capcom has a reputation for quality so people expect our games to be good – our challenge is simply getting them to go and try them."
What is your vision and strategy going forward?
"Basically what I’m trying to do with the part of the company I’m responsible for really dove-tails into what the company overall is trying to do. We’re trying to broaden the product portfolio and the performance of the company in the west. It’s why we have set up a development group here in North America that will manage external developers to create western-oriented content. It is why we started a licensing initiative with Germaine Gioia to bring in high profile licenses. The company hadn’t been that involved with licensing in the past, and in Japan licenses aren’t as important to the videogame business. In the west they are, so in order to really expand upon our product offerings some licensed product is the right way to do that as well. By combining quality licenses with new IP (which we’ll also generate here in the west), on top of the foundation of games we have in Japan, the idea is to grow the business significantly in the western territories in particular. To achieve that will require a combination of quality development, quality licensing, and innovative marketing – all of which were things we were not doing in the past - and integrating all three of those teams together so that everyone is working as a unified whole. We can’t do it with one group going off in one direction, another group going off in another direction. So we’ve laid out a five-year strategy for where we’re trying to go. All the senior managers are aware of that strategy and where we’re trying to take it. And that is a subset of the corporate long-term strategy which has also been established, and is what we’re using as the blueprint for the company as we go forward."
Where do you see Capcom 5 years from now?
"Significantly larger. I think that’s the first point because we do see the opportunity to grow the business. We don’t have specific targets for ‘we want to be a $3 billion company’ or something of that sort. It’s not really the way the company is put together. What we’re looking at is being a larger, successful Capcom. We’re not trying to be EA, we’re not trying to be Activision: we want to be true to the things we do well but expand upon those. I think you’ll also see that we’ll tend to be consistently profitable. That’s one of the key focuses of the company. So bigger, profitable, still focused on creativity, and still focused on quality."
And still focused on videogames?
"Absolutely. Yes. As it is we’re already doing console, PC gaming, mobile gaming, pachinko and pachislo, and arcade - and if there are other viable platforms on which we can create content, then we may participate in those sectors. But the focus of the company is going to remain gaming. Additionally, we’re trying to take our IP and make sure that is as pervasive as possible. You’ll see a Resident Evil movie this fall, you’ll see other franchises in movies, you’ll see us in merchandising, you’ll see us in strategy guides, you’ll see us in comic books, etc., spreading our IP to the point where it’s recognized more for quality IP than just for being a videogame."
Many industry rookies admire your success and would love to learn how you got here. Can you give them any tips?
"Luck (laughing). Basically a lot of it is, frankly, work ethic. And it’s something that I’ve noticed particularly with the younger entrants to the business. I don’t see the same work ethic in a lot of people. People that don’t think the job is a privilege, but instead think of it as something they have to earn and they have to work for. I think you should have opinions, you should be prepared to express your opinions, but you should not go overboard with your opinions. I like to teach a certain level of consensus building as part of the way you can ultimately become more successful: making sure that you’re not going off as the lone-wolf and nobody’s going to want to go with you. Ultimately develop the strategy for what you want to do as a group and then you’ll have everybody working with you in that respect. In order to really move things forward in any company you have to have consensus within the organization. Understand your market segment, understand who it is you’re trying to appeal to, understand your consumer base."
"Another thing that I think a lot of people fall down on, is consistently looking to innovate. Don’t get into the trap of 'this worked well for this game so we can do it for this game', 'this worked well for this product line so we can do it for this product line.' You should always be trying to push the envelope on where you try to go creatively, whether that’s with game development, whether that’s with marketing, whether it’s with the way you run your business and the way things are done in order to be successful. You always want to be looking for new ways to approach the business because this is a constantly evolving industry, and there will always be new methods and technologies that will be used to try to be successful within that industry. So it’s really a combination of those things. In particular, understanding who it is you’re working with and who it is that you’re trying to reach. In our case, our industry is based on trying to reach a very fickle market segment. Sixteen to eighteen-year-old males are very hard to pin down, so understanding them as best you can, watching trends, watching what happens with other forms of entertainment, what’s hot, what’s not, and trying to apply that in the gaming side is at least helpful."
About Capcom
Capcom® is a leading worldwide developer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment for game consoles, PCs, handheld and wireless devices. Founded in 1983, the company has created hundreds of games, including best-selling franchises Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Devil May Cry. Capcom maintains operations in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Tokyo and Hong Kong, with corporate headquarters located in Osaka, Japan. More information about Capcom can be found on the company web site, www.capcom.com.
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