Dead Rising Success = More Capcom Support
Despite the Xbox 360’s “solid, but not spectacular” (read: crap!) sales figures in Japan, the console is selling through healthy numbers in the North American territory. Even better news for Microsoft? Initial shipments for Capcom’s Dead Rising, a new IP for a Japanese company certainly not new to zombies, are targeted at 450,000 copies, with total shipments estimated at 800,000. That’s good news for both companies.
According to analysts at NikkoCitiGroup, this signals not only a strong demand for Dead Rising, it also shows potential success for the marketing tactic of downloadable demos via Xbox Live as well as positive reforms at Capcom’s US division.
Analysts further speculate that we’ll see more PLAYSTATION 3 exclusives (such as Devil May Cry 4 and Monster Hunter) come to the Xbox 360â€â€at least in the United States and Canada. That’s BAD news for Sony. Read on for more professional prediction and postulation.
I remember a few months ago, I think just after E3, I posted an interview with the creator of Devil May Cry 4, where he hinted that it would come to Xbox 360. After the news broke and was posted, he retracted his statements and stood by the “exclusive to PS3″ line, much like Ubisoft tried to do with Assassin’s Creed, which is now confirmed to be coming to Xbox 360. Companies like Capcom are not being paid to keep their games exclusive to Sony most likely, unlike Square-Enix, but if Capcom and other companies start seeing huge profit opportunities on the Xbox 360, they’re going to ditch their cultural loyalty to the PlayStation, which is good news for everyone. Sony’s threats to developers no longer work now that they have a viable option to jump to in the Xbox 360.