- Capcom’s Value Creation
- Medium- to Long-Term
Growth Strategy - The Heart of
Value Creation - ESG-Based
Value Creation - Financial Analysis
The Head of Development Discusses Human Resources Strategy
Yoichi Egawa
Director and Executive Corporate Officer,
In charge of Consumer Games
Development and Pachinko & Pachislo/
Amusement Equipments Business Division of the Company
We’ll develop a system to sustain development’s recent successes
The thinking that lies at the foundation of Capcom’s development ideals and structure is twofold: first, if the game isn’t good, it won’t sell; second, if you don’t pursue global brands, you won’t survive in the game industry.
It’s been about two years since I took charge of development. During this time, I’ve emphasized my personal motto of "never run away, never give up," and have been able to tackle the issue of ensuring world-class quality, which is a big win for us. Moreover, within the development organization overall, a more conscious focus on medium-term branding on the part of operations has begun to take effect, and we are making progress on developing a structure for stable growth.
In addition to existing issues, the mission I will focus on going forward will be (1) producing both world-class quality and profitability, (2) creating hit mobile titles, (3) addressing development of esports and a long-term sales model, and (4) strengthening network technology for multi-player competition and the like.
In manufacturing, quality and budget are often at odds, but our developers have a great deal of artisan pride, which gives them the aptitude for creating hit titles. I will fulfil my responsibility of balancing their ideals with profitability.
Achieving this mission will require expansion of development resources (personnel), so I will continue to pour effort into hiring and training developers.
Main Pipeline (Plan for Fiscal Years 2016-2018)
Brand | Fiscal year ended March 31, 2017 | Fiscal year ended March 31, 2018 | Fiscal year ending March 31, 2019 (plan) Excludes unannounced titles as of August 31, 2018 |
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Resident Evil |
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Monster Hunter |
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Street Fighter |
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Devil May Cry |
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Mega Man |
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Total | 6 titles | 11 titles | Over 10 titles |
Notes 1. *Indicates rereleases for current generation game consoles 2. NSW: Nintendo Switch
Investment in Human Capital
Strengthening the Development Organization and Human Resources
Basic Approach to Human Capital
The game industry continues to evolve year after year. A major key to survival will be adapting to advances in communication speeds and screen resolution.
Further, the most important factor in being able to quickly adapt to the ever-increasing scale of game development, while at the same time bolstering the lineup of major titles needed to provide stable growth, is building up our personnel base. To this end, we have hired 100 developers every year since fiscal 2011, with the goal of maintaining a workforce of 2,500 developers by fiscal 2021.
The reason we choose in-house production over subcontracting, despite increased fixed costs, can be found in advancements in and the growing scale of game development. We judged that, in addition to there being few subcontractors able to provide us with the necessary support, creating an environment of friendly competition is essential to world-class development and technological capabilities.
Based on the above policy, around 90% of our development human resources are allocated to the Digital Contents business.
Human Resources Development System
To ensure the quality and quantity of our human resources, particularly for new graduates, we have introduced unique training and mentoring systems to increase both soft skills and technical skills, establishing a practical means of developing young employees to become fully self-sufficient by their third year of employment. As for mid-career and younger employees (core development framework), we selectively promote talented personnel in key areas and cultivate them through title development to help them grow into "core members" who will lead overall game development. Occasionally, our employees must cope with failure, and sometimes they will hit a wall, but a wealth of experiences is the source of personal growth.
We will look into brand-based human resources allocation in order to develop an organizational structure specialized for brands. The skills required for a game like Resident Evil are quite different from those required for a game like Monster Hunter, so we believe that identifying which developer is suited to which brand and putting the right people in the right places will allow us to create games of higher quality.
Improving Motivation
In addition to compensation like title-specific incentives and assignment allowances, we have put together a pleasant workplace environment that includes an on-site day care center as motivation for employees. However, the biggest motivation for developers involved in building creative games is undoubtedly being in an environment that allows them to create the games they want to create. My background is in R&D as well, and I see that as the wellspring of development at Capcom. As such, beyond budget and delivery schedules, I am working to give as much freedom in craftsmanship as possible.
Investment in Intellectual Capital
Acquiring and Generalizing the Latest Technologies
Capcom invests aggressively in R&D centers and development facilities based on the conviction that you can’t create world-class games without pursuing evolution, and the technical results lead to a competitive edge over other companies. The key point in differentiation from other companies is generalizing the latest technologies and making development easier to increase efficiency. For example, the RE ENGINE development engine not only enables graphical expressions nearly indistinguishable from live action but also dramatically shortens the time required for each process in game development. Our in-house oriented development structure allows us to improve specifications constantly, and this makes such things possible.
[The Heart of Value Creation] Resident Evil 2
[The Heart of Value Creation] Devil May Cry 5
PDF download
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ESG-Based Value Creation (PDF:3.69MB/24 pages)