Resident Evil publisher Capcom is worried that it might encounter some unfavorable media attention in 2010.
In a statement released to its investors last month, Capcom revealed that one of its big worries for the coming year, along with rising development costs and increasing pre-owned sales, is a media backlash against some of its more violent titles, which in turn might adversely affect sales.
The statement read: ‘Some of our popular software titles have provocative graphics and text, such as violent and grotesque scenes. Accordingly, in the event of violent incidents and other criminal cases involving juveniles, we may be subject to a smear campaign by some sections of the mass media which often point out the correlation between crime and games.
‘Therefore, there is a risk that it may result in having an adverse effect on our business performance, corporate value and narrowed distribution channel under instructions by the relevant authorities.’
With the recent release of Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles and Resident Evil Zero on the Wii, the last thing that Capcom needs is a wave of negative attention, but given that the company has been making violent games for years, and has plenty more non-violent titles in the works, it seems strange that it would fear a backlash now.
Source: CVG
