Capcom shifting away from outsourcing to improve game quality

Capcom wants to make more of its games in-house to improve the quality of its releases, and intends to hire 1,000 developers over the next 10 years to support that goal. The publisher has outsourced a considerable portion of its games in recent years, allowing Western developers to handle some of its biggest franchises. It's partnered with Spark Unlimited (Turning Point) on Lost Planet 3 (pictured), and brought in Ninja Theory (Heavenly Sword) to handle its Devil May Cry reboot. A number of those outsourced projects have been panned by critics, such as Grin's Bionic Commando reboot and Slant Six Games' Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, though the latter went on to sell over 2.1 million units worldwide. The publisher has also received criticism recently on the quality of Resident Evil 6, an internally-developed title, which reviewers have slammed for veering too far away from the franchise's roots, and for trying to please as many people as possible. Capcom told investors last week that it will improve the quality of its games by creating a larger percentage of its projects internally. In order to accomplish that goal, it will add another 1,000 workers to its current team of 1,500 developers. The publisher will focus on beefing up its content development groups for console game development, while also expanding its mobile and PC online divisions. It does not expect significant changes in its development budget, as Capcom will allocate expenditures away from outsourced projects to its internal team.