Capcom plans to 'revive dormant IP' as Resident Evil, Monster Hunter take off

Capcom has plans to dip into its library of older intellectual properties and breathe new life into long dormant series, at least according to the company’s 2019 integrated report.

The full document traces through Capcom’s financial history as well as its future philosophies and plans, offering a peek at how the performance of recent releases like Resident Evil 2 Remake and Monster Hunter World’s Iceborne expansion have influenced the company’s plans.

Capcom doesn’t dive into which franchises it expects to make a comeback, but notes that it plans to bolster its numbers to “awaken dormant intellectual properties,” though its focus will still be on getting the most revenue-wise out of its current core games.

For those core franchises, Capcom credits the success of Resident Evil 2 and Devil May Cry 5, both released this year, to “the same meticulous commitment to quality” it has employed for Monster Hunter: World and, more recently, its expansion, alongside an attentive marketing process.

For Resident Evil 2 specifically, an overhauled remake of the 1998 game of the same name, Capcom said it aimed to grab the attention of both fans of the classic Resident Evil games and new fans by cleverly angled social media strategy and a demo with a “1-shot” quirk.

Additionally, reviving that particular legacy game involved ensuring the remaster both did the classic Resident Evil 2 justice while making it enjoyable for modern players, a likely peek at that “meticulous commitment to quality” it includes in development plans for its flagship games.

“The original Resident Evil 2 is one of the series most popular titles. Recreating the game for current-generation game consoles meant there were high hurdles to overcome in terms of the fans’ expectations for the game and the weight of the brand,” notes Capcom. “In our effort to leave a sense of the original while remaking the game from scratch, it took 18 months of trial and error to figure out what to keep and what to change until the game’s first stage at the police station was finally complete.”