Capcom

Capcom Co., Ltd.
株式会社カプコン

Type	Public TYO: 9697
Industry	Video games Entertainment
Founded	June 11, 1983[1]
Headquarters	Japan: Osaka, Tokyo, Iga North America: San Mateo, Los Angeles, Burlington Europe: London, Hamburg, Saint-Germain-en-Laye East Asia: Seoul, Hong Kong
Key people	Kenzo Tsujimoto[2] (Chairman and CEO) Haruhiro Tsujimoto[2] (President and COO) Hiroshi Tobisawa[3] (Director in charge of Overseas Business) Keiji Inafune[2] (Head of R&D Management Group)
Products	Street Fighter Mega Man Resident Evil Onimusha Devil May Cry Monster Hunter (complete list of games)
Revenue	¥66.8 billion / $728.1 million (2010)[4][5]
Net income	¥2.2 billion / $23.6 million (2010)[4][5]
Employees	1,930 (2010)[6]
Website	Global Capcom site

Capcom Co., Ltd. (株式会社カプコン, Kabushiki-gaisha Kapukon^?) is an Osaka-based Japanese developer and publisher of video games,^[6] known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Resident Evil, Street Fighter, and Mega Man.^[7] Originally established in 1983,^[8] it has since become an international enterprise with branches and subsidiaries in North America, Europe, and East Asia.^[9]

History

The original companies that spawned Capcom's Japanese branch were I.R.M Corporation founded on May 30, 1979,^[1] as well as its subsidiary Japan Capsule Computer Co., Ltd., both of which were devoted to the manufacturing and distribution of electronic game machines.^[8] The two companies underwent a name change to Sambi Co., Ltd. in September 1981,^[8] while Capcom Co., Ltd. itself was first established on June 11, 1983,^[1] for the purpose of taking over the internal sales department.^[10]

In January 1989, the old affiliate company of the same name merged with Sambi Co., Ltd., resulting in the current Japanese branch.^[8] The name Capcom is an abbreviation of "Capsule Computer", a term coined by the company to describe the arcade machines it solely manufactured in its early years, designed to set themselves apart from personal computers that were becoming widespread at that time.^[11] The word capsule alludes to how Capcom likened its game software to "a capsule packed to the brim with gaming fun", as well as to the company's desire to protect its intellectual property with a hard outer shell, preventing illegal copies and inferior imitations.^[11]

While Capcom's first product was the coin-operated Little League from July 1983, its first real video game, the arcade title Vulgus, was released in May 1984.^[8] Beginning with a Nintendo Entertainment System port of 1942 published in December 1985, the company started to venture into the market of home console video games,^[8] which became its main business segment a few years later.^[12] Since then, Capcom created 15 multi-million-selling game series, the most successful of which is Resident Evil.^[7]

In addition to the development and publishing of home, online, mobile, arcade, pachinko, and pachislo games, the company publishes strategy guides,^[8] maintains its own arcade centers, and licenses its franchise and character properties for use in tie-in products, movies, television series, and stage performances.^[12] Suleputer, an in-house marketing and music label established in cooperation with Sony Music Entertainment Intermedia in 1998, publishes CDs, DVDs, and other media based on Capcom's games.^[13] An annual private media summit called Captivate, renamed from Gamers Day in 2008, is traditionally used as a platform for new game and business announcements.^[14]

Company structure

Development studios

Games developed internally at Capcom Co., Ltd. used to be created by several numbered production studios, each assigned to different games.^[15] Since 2002, the development process has been reformed to better share technologies and expertise, and all of the individual studios have been gradually restructured into bigger departments responsible for different tasks.^[15] While there are self-contained departments for the creation of arcade, pachinko and pachislo, online, and mobile games, the Consumer Games R&D Division instead is an amalgamation of subsections in charge of various game development stages.^[15][16][17] The production of games, budgets, and platforms supported are decided upon in development approval meetings, attended by the company management and the Marketing, Sales, and Quality Control Departments.^[15]

Branches and subsidiaries

In addition to the head office and R&D building of Capcom Co., Ltd. located in Osaka, the Japanese parent company has branch offices in Tokyo and Iga.^[9] The international Capcom Group currently encompasses 15 subsidiaries in Japan, North America, Europe, and East Asia.^[9][15] Affiliated companies include Capcom Co., Ltd., Street Fighter Film, LLC, and Dellgamadas Co., Ltd.^[15]

Former subsidiaries

See also

• Arika
• Inti Creates
• Game Republic
• Platinum Games

References

External links

• Global Capcom site
• Capcom Store
• Capcom Unity
• Capcom Database Wiki