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Mega Man Is Still A “Very Important” Brand To Capcom

By Ishaan . August 9, 2011 . 10:45pm

Mega Man Is Still A Very Important Brand To Capcom

Following the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 and Mega Man’s exclusion from Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, there’s been a lot of chatter and questions as to whether Capcom are laying the Mega Man brand to rest. During a video Q&A, Capcom’s Christian Svensson provided the following reply to the question: “Is Mega Man dead?”

 

“Oh, absolutely not. The frustrating thing for me is I have nothing I can hold up and say, ‘Oh, here’s this other Mega Man thing’. Absolutely, we have other things… Mega Man is a very important brand to Capcom. We get questions [like] ‘Are you guys trying to kill the brand?’

 

“No, absolutely not. It will continue to be a very important brand for us. I wish I had something I could hold and display for you that that’s the case, but I don’t right now. But super, super important to us; I do want to express that.”

 

It’s understandable that a lot of people that were looking forward to Mega Man Legends 3 — us included — are disappointed that the project was cancelled. That said, something to consider is that there could have been a multitude of reasons for its cancellation, especially in light of the fact that even the planned Prototype Version that was meant to gauge interest in the game never made it out the door.

 

Perhaps the game itself ran into development issues. Perhaps Capcom’s senior management played the Prototype Version and thought it wasn’t very good (it was even delayed once), and decided it was time to stop throwing money at a game that was going nowhere. Perhaps the team moved on to another Mega Man project instead. There could be any number of reasons that can’t be publicly discussed.

 

Regarding the cancellation, Svensson says:

 

“The decision was not made lightly. Certainly, we knew there would be a lot of upset people and in spite of that, we still had to make that decision. That doesn’t mean we don’t care about you at all. I unfortunately can’t get into the details of it, but it was not a decision that was made lightly and I can tell you that no one is happy about that decision, but it was a decision that had to be made.”

 

A lot of time and money goes into making games — even those with controlled budgets like Mega Man Legends 3. Prototypes of games are shelved all the time for various reasons, often related to quality or viability. The major difference in this case is that the prototype was highly-publicized and developed with the input of fans.


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  • http://twitter.com/Pedazodezoquete Gabriel

    Actually, the cancelation of mega man legends 3 lead to the riots in London, that’s why they keep in secrecy the reasons why it was cancelled so there won’t be any more riots all over the world.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=685220688 Vince Vazquez

    I feel real bad for Mr.Svensson. Because I know some people who aren’t responsible for these situations are going to get the hate. But nothing Capcom does right now will change anyone’s mind. I can admit that killing Mega Man Universe was something I support (it looked awful; like Mega Man Powered Up had all the charm and polish forcibly removed), and maybe Mega Man Legends 3 was going to suck? We never even saw Mega Man in those screens they released. But pulling him from MvC? There’s no reason for that. In fact, that was arguably the only thing they HAD to do to actually show that he means something to the current Capcom heads.

    Street Fighter was pretty dead before Yoshinori Ono came up with SFIV, and convinced higher ups to let him have a crack at it. I expect that, until that person comes along for Mega Man, it’s going to stay dead. And that it was pretty irresponsible of Inafune-san to leave Capcom without first grooming a replacement like that. That would be like Miyamoto leaving Nintendo without putting Eiji Aounuma in charge of Zelda or Koizumi in charge of Mario.

    I’m still crossing my fingers that we’ll get a current gen, HD Mega Man revival though. Courtesy of CyberConnect 2. I’d actually LOVE to see that. But right now, it’s hard to believe anyone at Capcom proper (no offense Mr.Svensson, but after Dark Void and Bionic Commando, it’s clear Capcom US doesn’t call any important shots) gives a sh** about the Blue Bomber.

  • http://www.facebook.com/strawberry.kurosaki William Hsia

    stop lieing though your theeth…this is just getting sad, and your arnt gonna bring me back on your cash mule

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Justin-Butela/507581160 Justin Butela

    Don’t cry for Capcom, Argentina. Christian Svensson has the temerity to honestly say, “I wish I had something I could hold and display for you that that’s the case, but I don’t right now.”

    Oh really?

    It may only be a start, but how about getting on the phone with Nintendo and Sony and getting some of the older titles released on their respective online storefronts? Let’s take a quick look, shall we?

    For Nintendo – simply looking at the Wii Virtual Console – we still await the following:
    -Mega Man VI (NES)
    -Mega Man VII (SNES)
    -Mega Man X2 (SNES)
    -Mega Man X3 (SNES)
    -Mega Man: The Power Battle (Arcade)
    -Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters (Arcade)
    -Mega Man Soccer (SNES)

    I didn’t honestly want to include that last one but sure, why not. And hey, perhaps the Arcade titles are too big to be released (though I kinda doubt it). Ignoring just the Arcade titles, that’s still five titles that remain unreleased that would do nothing but engender goodwill among the fanbase.

    Let’s take a glance on the Sony side of things:
    -Rockman 4 (PSOne Classics Import)
    -Rockman 5 (” ” “)
    -Rockman 6 (” ” “)
    -Rockman X3 (” ” “)
    -Mega Man X4 (PSOne Classics)
    -Mega Man X5 (” “)
    -Mega Man X6 (” “)
    -Mega Man Legends (” “)
    -Mega Man Legends 2 (” “)
    -The Misadventures of Tron Bonne (” “)
    -Mega Man 8 (” “)
    -Rockman Battle & Chase (PSOne Classics Import)

    That’s *twelve* titles to choose from. Simply offering the ‘Legends’ and original ‘Rockman’ titles would yield five or six games (depending on whether you include ‘Tron Bonne’) that would, at the very least, assuage the frustration felt by the cancellations of ‘Legends 3′ and ‘Mega Man Universe’ as well as Mega Man’s snub in ‘Ultimate Marvel VS Capcom 3′. 

    And what have the benevolent Gods on Mount Olympus blessed us with?

    Half off on games that have been out for two or three years now on the Playstation Network. And Christian Svensson telling me that Capcom has nothing to offer or show me to indicate how important Mega Man still is to them.

    Oh, and I see that hand in the back, that someone wants to tell me to just purchase ‘Anniversary Collection’ or ‘X Collection’ and call it a day. That doesn’t really speak to the issue – buying a last-generation game to solve a current-generation problem. I don’t know who decides what gets released on the online storefronts – I’m aware that games must be rated first and all that – but this is a problem that Capcom absolutely could do *something* about and, so far, has done, well, nothing.

    TL; DR. There, I said it first.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Sanji-Himura/1199294005 Sanji Himura

      MML PSone games won’t make it to PSN.  They failed “IP checks” according to Svensson.  I think that it is bs since they worked through the legal rodeo that was TvC and brought it to the states without any trouble.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Justin-Butela/507581160 Justin Butela

        That’s exactly my point. You’re right – I had neglected to mention the IP / contract stuff that Svensson mentioned back in May. But, you’re also right in that, once upon a time, Capcom said that Tatsunoko VS Capcom would never come stateside due to all the intellectual properties involved. Like many other gamers, that impossible game currently sits in my library because Capcom took the time to get the proper clearances. I sincerely believe that, if they wanted to, they could do the same thing with Legends, Legends 2 and Misadventures of Tron Bonne.

        And even if we allow for this IP clearance nonsense and accept that Legends will never see the light of day on the Playstation Network, it doesn’t explain the lack of other titles. Speaking realistically, what’s taking them so long on releasing the following here in the States:

        -Rockman IV (PSN)
        -Rockman V (PSN)
        -Mega Man VI (Wii Virtual Console and, someday, PSN as Rockman VI)

        I suspect that X2 and X3 may have emulation issues keeping them from being released on Virtual Console – C4 chip effects, specifically. Not that Capcom has confirmed or denied anything – I think they’ve said that Nintendo decides what gets released and when, but still.

        At this point, *almost* anything Capcom does that promotes Mega Man can only do more good than harm. Heck, Seth Killian could finally reveal his amazing “secret in Mega Man 9 that no one has discovered yet”. He’s either pulling an Ed Boon (“Oh, there’s all sorts of undiscovered things in Mortal Kombat”) and the secret is that there’s no more secrets or the secret is something so trivial that it wasn’t worth our time to begin with. I’d be genuinely surprised if it was something worthwhile.

  • http://twitter.com/ShinAnt Anthony Carl

    You know the Inafune argument is such bs right? The creator of Devil May cry left. They still make games. Same with Resident Evil, Street Fighter, pretty much all the the creators are not with Capcom.(inb4 they all suck now, don’t make me mention the Starforce and Battle network games)  It’s like that with a lot of companies. They still have the rights, they still have the franchises, and they will continue to market off of them.

    Now with the cry of Megaman, Something will come. It’s moronic to kill of a gaming icon. Give the blue bomber time, to get a proper game, and to the people bitching about Street Fighter and fighting games “stealing” the limelight, Please do some fucking research. There wasn’t ANY capcom fighters for 10 YEARS after 3rd Strike on the Dreamcast. Then Ono-san and Nitsuma-san came in and sparked the interest up to the Jap big wigs who evidently have sticks so far up their asses. There are people who do enjoy these games, just as some enjoy Megaman.

    Consider the following. He’s not getting a new game every fucking year like Sonic or Mario, which in my personal belief, are getting really fucking stale. (ESPECIALLY Sonic)

    On the comment on letting CyberConnect do Legends. Capcom does have ties with them now with Asura’s Wrath. I sense good things with this statement.

    • elsalvadorps

      Difference is you know…all those other Capcom franchises make money and Magaman makes Capcom do more than usual.

      What is the Inafune arguement and 128 games isn’t stale for you?

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Justin-Butela/507581160 Justin Butela

      You’re right, in that Capcom would be stupid to turn down money on a property that has, in the past, made them money. That they would be fools not to release a new Mega Man title. That’s not really the issue here, though – Capcom is claiming that there’s nothing they can do for us right at this precise instant. This is wrong – there are plenty of Mega Man titles that could be rereleased on current gen console online storefronts (Wii Virtual Console, Playstation Store) that would at least put a bandaid on the bulletwound left from cancelling Legends 3 and Universe. 

      And I’m giving them benefit of the doubt here – maybe Legends 3 and Universe just weren’t that promising and they were sparing us from two lackluster titles. I wish they had left that up to *us* but, as of this instant, that’s out of our hands.

      You’re incorrect, in that Capcom took a hiatus from fighting games in 1999. It was 2001 – they still did the Versus games (Capcom VS SNK, Capcom VS SNK 2, Marvel VS Capcom 2) and Street Fighter EX3 (2001). If you’re saying they didn’t make a fully-fledged Street Fighter title, then I absolutely concur.

    • http://twitter.com/Vanpan110494 Sentoro Katarashi

      Interesting! I did not know that! (if this is true)

  • http://twitter.com/IncrediBurch Ryan Burch

    Us Mega Man fans want to know that a serious project is in the works.  Maybe it’s still in pre-production and it’s direction isn’t settled, but at least knowing something is being worked on is what the fans want to hear. 

    I think Capcom should have at least put the MML3 Prototype version out on the 3DS eShop for free. Take what they had, make sure it ran smooth enough for a small playthrough, and distributed it.  Then, gather that fan reaction data.

    Capcom wondered why participation was so weak in the DevRoom?  Fans didn’t have anything to go on.  We’d get one thing to think about for a month and then nothing.  Had the Prototype been released, I’ll bet that the DevRoom would have exploded with participation, because the fans finally had something to think about.

  • LaserVision

    You guys know what would be a really dumb idea? To announce another Mega Man game. And cancel it. Again. Either they don’t announce anything and people freak out or they announce something too early which could be cancelled and people will still freak out. They can’t win either way. People should just calm down.

    With regards to Capcom, next time they announce another Mega Man game it should darn well be near finished. Let everyone else think whatever the hell they want until then.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Raven-LongShadow/100002209910459 Raven LongShadow

    crapcom presents:The Death of Megaman
    To sum things up unfortuantly while many people are dissapointed including myself heavily being a all around megaman fan,due to how capcom works these days their hate towards kenji inafune leaving and their own way of making half-assed games these days it was a sure thing they were gonna screw this game up

    Megaman is capcoms mascot or was i cant rememeber a game before megaman and it has its own fanbase,however that fanbase is now dying and capcom is fully aware of this and yet proceeded with this move,sales of the ds are down alot i can get a bargain at gamestop for a ds for 99 bucks forseeing this may be part of the reason of the cancellation,the simple truth is however this is hate,there was no reason to exclude megaman from marvel vs capcom 3 other then out of spite,capcom is losing money and losing fans with cancellation of megaman games

    It is with this regard i think a new company needs to oversee the megaman next generation,i suggest Konami since their familair with side-scroller games like castlevania,as for megaman legends i think a company like Atlus the same people who made disgaea with their perks and humor would be perfect for the devolopment of megaman legends

    I will be honest i have no more faith in capcom im also a resident evil fan and im sick of their action games and their constant lack of zombies,they already screwed up with the save feature on the mercenaries,but the finishing touch is their newest game revelations,their big theme is monsters with socks for mouths,is that scary?

    Capcom has no clue what it is doing their in dissaray and unfortuantly at this point they cant afford too many more mistakes even though i expect to see them,thanks to them we will probobly never see another megaman game,you need publicity to get a game moving and if no game is made how are people gonna build on it?Simple answer is no game is gonna get more popular unless you actually publish it,by now if capcom all of a sudden said their making a new megaman game i wouldnt beleive them or care because its crapcom doing what they do best to screw their fans over.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002600218490 Jason Robinson

    we arent angry because of the publicity the game got, we’re angry because we waited (and i can’t stress this enough0) A DECADE for a game that practically had a “to be continued” at the end.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Justin-Butela/507581160 Justin Butela

      They actively *promoted* a game that the fans had been waiting a decade for. Said *promoting* yielded *publicity*. The fans were worked up into a lather because, finally, a long-awaited, long-demanded follow-up was going into production and going to see a release.

      And then, shortly after Inafune left, suspiciously Legends 3 was discontinued.

      The claim by Capcom is that it wasn’t up to their standards. That may very well be the case but, after they *just* cancelled Mega Man Universe (which, admittedly, didn’t look all that interesting), there’s no way to put a positive spin on said cancellation.

      In hind-sight, perhaps they should have at least gotten as far as the demo and then, you know, *LET THE FLIPPIN’ FANBASE DECIDE IF THE GAME IS ANY GOOD*. It may very well have turned out to be an incredibly boring title with little to no redeeming value but at least let us try it for ourselves and, hey, since we’re supposed to be involved with the game’s creation, just ask us for feedback. After that, they could have halted production and said, “The feedback we received indicated that we were going in a bad direction and after much thought, we’ve decided that we cannot do Mega Man Legends 3 justice *at this time*”. Would the fanbase still have flipped out? Most definitely, but at least Capcom could say that they had our best interests in mind *after* letting us try it.  For now, I can accept that they’re giving up on Legends 3 – maybe somewhere down the line, they’ll change their minds. Still, Legends and Legends 2 still exist and that’s going to have to be good enough. 

      And it’s all this follow-up damage control that continues to keep us irritated. Half off on Playstation Network Mega Man titles that have been out for years now? You kidding me? Christian Svensson saying, “Everyone says we’re killing Mega Man and it’s frustrating because we’re not but we don’t have anything to offer the fan base right now; there’s nothing for me to hold up and show them that we still care about the Blue Bomber” is insulting – fine, you don’t have a *new* Mega Man title in the works at the moment. How about you start working on getting *all* of the other classic Mega Man titles available for purchase / download on Wii Virtual Console, 3DS Virtual Console and Playstation Network? Yes, I know Mega Man X2 was very recently rated by the ESRB for the Wii – how about X3, MM6, MM7, MM Soccer? Yes, I know that Japan PSN has Rockman 4 and 5 – how about USA? How about Rockman 6? Yes, I know that Legends and Legends 2 failed IP checks and that that’s why they’re not available on PSN – but Capcom is the company who was able to release Tatsunoko VS Capcom in America. That’s a *lot* of intellectual property to have to clear for a retail release – how is it that you were able to clear all of the intellectual properties in Tatsunoko VS Capcom but you can’t clear the IP for Legends, Legends 2 and Misadventures of Tron Bonne for PSN?

      *THAT* is frustrating.

      And as always, TL; DR. There I said it first.

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