After bringing joy to fans this Thursday by announcing the first Onimusha and Okami titles in almost twenty years during The Game Awards, Capcom seems to be feeling generous.

Whether you call it the festive spirit or an insatiable lust for profit, the Japanese development studio said it is considering bringing other classics back.

According to the Capcom investor relations page, the company has set sights on bringing some classics out of hibernation to not let valuable IP go to waste.

The statement explains that Capcom is "working to further enhance corporate value by leveraging its rich library of content", citing the upcoming Onimusha and Okami releases as examples of this strategy.

The business rationale is to lean on popular classics to "continuously produce highly efficient, high-quality titles".

If you are a romantic who views video games as an art form in some way, it feels disheartening to see classic titles lauded not for their creativity but for their ability to turn a profit more reliably.

Sure, the video game industry is called an industry for a reason, but important discussions need to be had about how much is worth sacrificing for short-term gain.

This year leaves behind a bloody trail of games, workers, and studios axed without much ceremony as executives decided their continued existence threatened the little quarterly chart showing the line going up.

The latest estimates show that the game industry racked up approximately $455 billion in 2024, but even big names like Ubisoft are not immune to financial struggles.

Relying primarily on older IPs to stay profitable could prove dangerous in the long run.

As constant layoffs inevitably mean many creative professionals leave the gaming industry for more stable shores, those who remain might become more risk-averse.

Death Stranding, one of the greatest games of the previous decade, was only made possible because Hideo Kojima had full control of the process, but it is becoming increasingly rare for creative types to call the shots.

The danger scenario is the videogame industry ending up in the same hole as cinema today, where profitable releases are sequels, remakes, or lazy live-action adaptations of classics.

Posted: 8 hours, 16 minutes ago
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://www.dualshockers.com/capcom-looking-bring-back-more-dormant-ips/