Capcom recently released the critically and commercially successful Mega Man 9 and 10, then began development on a handful of other games starring the Blue Bomber, including Mega Man Legends 3 for the 3DS. Unfortunately, they ended up cancelling those titles and the character's future is now somewhat uncertain. In an interview with Siliconera, Capcom senior community manager Brett Elston spoke about the company's thoughts on Mega Man. Here are a few interesting excerpts.
Siliconera: There have obviously been discussions about Mega Man’s future, internally at Capcom, during which the involved parties provide their input regarding the future of the brand. Can you say what kind of input you’ve provided or what you’ve gleaned from your understanding of Mega Man’s target market?
Elston: We can’t give any specifics on that, but it’s true we’re talking about this brand and this character a lot. But, part of the problem is the prior question above—each of those Mega Man spin-offs targets a similar, but not identical audience. No matter what we do, there are other types of fans that are not addressed. It’s a huge challenge.
Siliconera: Do you think retail is still a viable space for new Mega Man games?
Elston: It’s entirely possible we’ll find an idea or concept that warrants a full disc release, but for the immediate future, digital feels like the right way to experience Mega Man. What form it takes, and which platform(s) it appears on, would need to suit the game and the intended audience. That said, the perceived quality of a digital title should be quite strong these days; just because something arrives via download and not in a box doesn’t mean it’s “lesser” in some way.
Siliconera: You have a lot of experience interacting with passionate fans like the Mega Man crowd on the Internet. What have you learned over the years, and if you were talking to a new Capcom community manager, what advice would you give them?
Coming from a journalism background, I’m intensely familiar with internet comments and how negativity can very quickly outweigh positive and even neutral discussion. It’s fair to say we won’t please everyone all the time, but I sincerely try to read as many comments and threads as possible, pull out exemplary criticism (an all-caps rant isn’t as useful as a measured, thoughtful response) and pass it along.
Most people just want to be heard, and while we can’t act on every comment and address every complaint, we are paying more attention to the community now than ever before. Hopefully that becomes more apparent throughout 2013, which I am happy to say has more cool surprises planned.
You can read the full interview via the source link below.
Source: Siliconera
i have been playing megaman games as long as i can remember. i believe that there is still a place for megaman on handhelds and console systems. not a bad idea at all to go digital in my opinion. but to help the little blue guy out, why not reboot megaman with remakes of the first 4 games, but keep it 2d not 3d like maverick hunter x was.upgrade to 2d artwork instead. make it fluid like the original 4 were. secondly why not make a anime like the short was for maverick hunter x. great voices and great animation. this would address other fans that may or may not be into the games. third continue with the original story of x. introduce a new villain like megaman x 8 did. i thought that was a good thing. it does get boring to keep defeating the same villain every game. megaman zero is a great example of the variety of villains that could be explored. by the way would have liked to see one more game with zero. one where he survived. i have many ideas about megaman and its alternate versions. i sincerly hope that capcom can give a seriously needed etank to the blue bomber.
ReplyDeleteMega Man is one of my favorite video game franchises of all time, and I'd like to see Capcom make more entries in the classic series and X series. That said, they need to do something more than that to try and attract a wider audience, and I'm not so sure how they could do that.
Delete