Capcom isn't going to stop working with Western game developers, but the era of Capcom tasking them with brand-new franchises is over, according to Capcom president Haruhiro Tsujimoto in an interview with the Financial Times. Blame the poor sales of both Bionic Commando and Dark Void.

Dark Void was expected to sell two million copies. It didn't. Dark Void sold 520,000. Bionic Commando was expected to tell 1.5 million copies. It didn't. Bionic Commando sold 700,000.

“The new titles where development was led from abroad didn’t do so well,” said Tsujimoto.

As a result, Capcom's partnership with Western game developers will include extensions of existing properties and game ideas. You already see this happening with Dead Rising 2, in development at Canada's Blue Castle Games. Capcom (including Keiji Inafune himself) has been intensely involved with the development of Dead Rising 2, but it's ultimately being crafted overseas. Based on my hands-on time with Dead Rising 2, however, you'd have a hard time telling it wasn't made in Japan.

Dead Rising 2 will be released on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 at the end of August.

Source: Financial Times

Have something to share? Sitting on a news tip? E-mail me. You can also follow me on Twitter.