Capcom Shares Hit Five Year High On Wii Success

Shares in Japanese publisher and developer Capcom have risen to a five year high on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, following higher than expected sales for Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition which has aided in a 33 percent rise in stock prices for the company this year. Stock in the publisher has risen by 6.3 percent to ¥2,855 ($25.08), the highest figure since September 2002 and well above the 0.5 percent gain in the benchmark Topix index. In the last two days alone shares have risen by 14 percent, following news of an 11 percent rise in annual sales and an increase in support of the Wii. "Resident Evil's Wii edition has continued to sell well," said Tokyo based Credit Suisse Group analyst Jay Defibaugh in a Bloomberg report. The group currently rates the company’s shares as “outperform”. Sales of the game are expected to exceed Capcom’s shipment target of 620,000 units, with the game still out of stock in many parts of Europe after higher than expected demand. In previous months, Capcom has spoken much of its desire to increase the appeal of its games in the West, with an apparent focus on Xbox 360 titles such as the successful Lost Planet: Extreme Condition and Dead Rising. As a result, and following limited sales success for its various exclusive GameCube titles, Capcom has offered proportionally less support for the Nintendo DS and Wii than other Japanese publishers. Hardware sales and the success of titles such as Ace Attorney and Resident Evil 4 appears to have altered this policy, with prominent forthcoming Wii exclusives such as Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure and Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, as well as the more recently announced We Love Golf! and multiformat Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law.