Despite many fan requests for more DLC for Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 or a potential third release, Capcom didn't budge. Now the Marvel license has slipped from their fingers. We are back to the drawing board. A PC release looks like it will never happen (I'll bring this up later). We will need either a PS3, 360 or Vita to be able to play UMVC3 since the successors are not capable of playing old games. Now we stand with the future of this franchise with a fate unknown. Why is this? Besides the fact pursuing the Marvel license obviously doesn't seem worth it to the company, the company's financial position will make it extremely hard to make the game as it once was. Lets face it, if Capcom saw any gain in using Marvel they would have at least rushed one last cash grab with a third version of the game just before it expired. But why, when members of Capcom-Unity were constantly throwing requests up for characters and begging the game get moved to PC, did Capcom decide not to answer the pleas? The answer to that would lie entirely on Capcom themselves.
The problem is Ultimate. Loyal followers of the game say that Capcom rushed it for the Christmas period and cut out 8 characters (although there is a difference between thought about and cut). Based on a quote by Ryota Niitsuma, half the characters of the Ultimate version were supposed to be planned as DLC for the original until the tsunami threw them off. Based on that DLC comment, it is highly probable that the other 6 would have joined another 8 they could have picked for the "true" Ultimate release. That is if you believe they planned half the characters as DLC. Destructoid did actually say "characters" in their question about DLC and Niitsuma said "half and half". In other words UMVC3 was guaranteed to happen eventually anyway. The tsunami just supposedly changed the way several characters came.
So why did Ultimate flop in their eyes? Well first it released at Christmas when the big games come out. The second problem is the way it was handled. Gamers were starting to catch on to Capcom's constant re-releasing by now (although many point out they have done this since the SNES days) so it is no surprise that people shunned it. A large fraction may have ignored it under the assumption that a third edition would come later down the line. Others felt it should have been both DLC and a physical release so the original supporters don't get cheated. Another group argued Capcom promised DLC every two weeks (now this doesn't necessarily mean characters) and all they got was another CPU player to battle with titles being gained. The most glaring problem though was that it hadn't been on market long before they announced this second version. Then there was the controversial choices Marvel made Capcom use. There were just too many problems facing this title for it to succeed. Now not only may we need to keep our current HD consoles to keep playing the game we may never see a re-release of MVC3 or a true sequel. This is not only because Capcom probably don't see renewing the license worth the investment, but because of the future of Capcom's franchises.
Capcom currently has some money in the bank and plenty of assets to keep them afloat, for a while at least. But look at where they are now compared to the last transition. They barely have games announced for the new consoles. They are sending their resources to mobile devices. The resources and money though is the problem with Capcom's future. They obviously don't have enough to invest heavily in new technology or their plans would be as big as last time. But what if Capcom's financial plan goes horribly wrong and they are forced to send their franchises off to other companies like THQ? The franchises split to too many houses to make this game happen. It will become another one of those franchises locked in legal battles as everyone thinks about what they can score by bringing it back again. Capcom would no longer have the rights to these so the publishers that snap them up would be denying each other because everybody wants the pie and nobody is willing to give up a piece. This is IF they do what THQ did.
What saddens me though is Capcom heard the voices of many PC owners asking them to do it and they never provided a real explanation as to why a PC port never happened. Was it Marvel? Do note that it became customary for Capcom to use Marvel as a target for many problems this game faced so before you take that at face value think about it. Other Marvel games have jumped on PC with no type of gap so if Marvel is a guilty party, it isn't like they can't be swayed if they are pushed enough. Sure its Marvel's fault that Gambit and Venom never got in but what about Black Panther? Marvel let them use him. The day UMVC3 was announced a user also asked Seth where Doctor Octopus was and he said "blame Marvel" then Marvel revealed that Doc Ock was actually entirely scrapped because Capcom couldn't make him work. I don't believe for one second that a PC version couldn't have happened if Capcom really wanted it to. UMVC3 didn't meet their expectations and Origins released then that was it. No more ports. No more versions. No more sequels. No more plans.
To me, Capcom have really shot themselves in the foot by not giving in to what the fans wanted. It is especially disheartening when the failure of UMVC3 was down to Capcom's own practices. I think people would have gladly waited longer for the Ultimate version and have it meet greater success with more characters than get a quick disc release in time for Christmas. Part of the reason this flopped is because of how fast it came out. It would still have hurt Capcom by doing a second disc release anyway, but they would have kept their promise of true DLC since (apparently) 6 characters were planned as DLC. Once again, Destructoid asked specifically about character DLC and Niitsuma replied "half and half". If he was just talking about costume DLC though is up in the air. It is also provided they were being truthful about their plans for the original game and they aren't just using the tsunami as a scapegoat. They wouldn't do that though would they? Well apparently, some think so.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boa...
http://www.vgchartz.com/art...
I personally think part of the reason Capcom have reached this financial position is because of these practices. People are starting to wise up to their DLC and rehashing. The question is, will Capcom realize this before it is too late? I personally felt there would be nothing wrong with Capcom's games provided they brought them to market as nature intended and didn't hinder the quality for the sake a quick buck. If you keep releasing rush jobs for a premium price you will eventually be told where it can go.
What do you think? Would you have wanted a third release knowing Marvel had complete dictation regarding their side? Do you think a PC port should have happened? Personally I liked Marvel's involvement in their character control because there are comic fans who want characters such as Black Panther, Moon Knight and The Hood. Although Marvel pushing Taskmaster above Black Panther is highly glaring indeed.
During the Dead By Daylight Year 8 Anniversary event, it was revealed that a new collaboration with Castlevania is coming to the game.
Mullet MadJack will make you miss the culture, aesthetics, and style of the 80s. It will also remind you of the ugly truth we all seem to forget about the 80s.
VR goalkeeping game CleanSheet Football is getting ready for a PSVR 2 launch later this month from INCISIV Ltd.
I might just haven't enough experience with Capcom's methodologies, but judging on the research I did following my reading of this blog, my first thought was: "Well, perhaps Capcom is moving forward with new developments." Looking back on the latest MVC release, it was an arcade game released in 2012.
With the newly released Xbox One and PlayStation 4, Capcom had Dead Rising 3 as a launch title and I'm sure they've many more next-gen games in mind with one or two in development currently, especially Resident Evil since that seems to be a staple in product as of late. While I found Resident Evil: Revelations to be an unnecessary port, it highlights one of two things: Capcom is either running out of ideas (Resident Evil wise or in general) or that they have bigger things planned for the Xbox One and PS4.
True, MVC has a rather large fan base despite the franchise not being as popular and blockbuster rated as say, Call of Duty (to name something obvious that everyone knows about.) I just think that Capcom might not backpedal to appease a fan base when they can move forward with something original, innovative or even fresh. Dead Rising 3 was neither in the grand scheme of things, but the series is only on its third instalment, while MVC is on its ninth.
That's just my $0.02 though and I'm not even much of a Capcom fan, despite my love for Resident Evil.
Interesting read.
What we need is the old Capcom from the 90s; the Capcom that made sold fighters, decent RPGs, and Resident Evil was actually fun to play. Anymore the fanbase knows once they release a game it's only a matter of time before some "upgraded" version comes out with all the additions. Also I do not in one way feel sorry for Capcom, and I'm almost on a boycott with their games because of how stupid their decisions have been. The last Capcom title I bought was Street Fighter X Tekken, and that was by far one of the worse fighters I've ever played. It's a sad day when I bought a game to return it less than 2 hours later because it's THAT bad.
I'm actually glad Capcom lost the Marvel license, maybe now they will start to listen to the fans, and stop cutting content as DLC to make that "extra profit." They should change their name to "Cashcom" because that's what they are about anymore; and until they've proven otherwise they are about the same league as EA and Activision. I know a lot of fans will argue "Deep Down" however I'm not convinced until Capcom actually does something with that game outside "Free to play."
I knew ever since they were not listening the fans for Megaman Legends 3 and Keiji Inafune leaving Capcom, this isn't going to be good. Every Capcom game currently is either mediocre or bad reviewed game and not sold really well. It is because:
1- The games were rushed. I was at first excited about the game...then I looked at the gameplay vids again. The animations were kind of noticeably stiff and when the game released, there wasn't much new stuff that made us "WOW" at the game, and in fact, it really looked like it was rushed. I wonder how this game would've been if it wasn't rushed to the market.
2- Capcom "Lalalala! Can't hear you guys!"ing the fans. RE6 was...despicable. It wasn't even a good action game and it wasn't scary so I call that a failure. RE series should have stayed in the way of RE4 which worked for the modern games and everyone loved it. Why not improving it? Why not trying to make it atmospheric?...Oh that's right! Now the kids, and the ones who get heart attacks now and then won't get the game and that's a "BOHOO!" for Capcom... Despicable indeed.
I chose not to make a big third reason because it is just mainly about not making games that the fans want since Megaman Legends 3 is the only one in my mind.
I will not be surprised AT ALL if Capcom would bankrupt sooner or later, maybe giving EA and Activision a hint of fear how greed would turn them too. Like Valenka, these are my "two cents" (TRADEMARKED :P) about this whole mess.
Thanks for the blog man!
I was (and largely wrote) a long post explaining various things I felt were wrong, but I decided not to bother. With that being said, I still feel I need to correct you on what Ultimates problem actually was.
While things like Megaman and the quick rerelease didn't help, the thing that pissed people off were Jill and Shuma, which is why most people took a stance against it. Remember, this took place after hackers found that Jill / Shuma were mostly complete on the disc (going back to their now infamous on-disc DLC issues) and many people felt like it was an insult to keep charging for these characters. This mentality is somewhat understandable, since Ultimate was viewed as the "definitive" version, but for whatever reason still shipped incomplete (since Jill / Shuma were 100% done long before that point). There were some counter arguments for this choice and while I won't get into it, I certainly agree they should have been free with the Vita version.
Anyway, this was the thing that killed the game. It was viewed as overly greedy and too many people were offended by it to want to support Capcom.