Capcom | Failing on PS2 & XBOX, But Not On GC?

Sony's PlayStation 2 saw matters take a turn for the worse, with sales falling far lower than the original projections. In total the company had aimed to shift over 8,750,000 software units over the year, with Onimusha 2, Clock Tower 3 and Devil May Cry 2 being the main players. But this overall target was missed by around the two million mark, with final numbers highlighting that in fact 6,830,000 were passed through retailers instead. Capcom has blamed disappointing sales of Clock Tower 3 and the Western release of Devil May Cry 2 for the slump.

The situation on Microsoft's XBOX system do not help the issue either, despite Tekki managing to sell out on a world-wide basis. The initial predictions were set at the 600,000 mark, but in what is quite a risible end-result, less than half of that amount was actually achieved - roughly 280,000 units sold overall!

Strangely enough, something that was certainly not foreseen by those 'oh-so-clever' industry moguls, it was Nintendo's systems that kept the company afloat on the whole. The GameCube easily out-performed initial expectations by over 200,000 units, with the total resting at approximately 3,230,000. What is surprising, though, is that even though the Game Boy Advance saw a mammoth 4,800,000 Capcom games sold on it, Capcom has decided to cut back its support on that particular platform this year, cancelling ten of their planned games. This is extremely unusual, especially considering GBA games are renowned for being the cheapest to produce, and thus turn-over on any releases is usually always positive.

For reference, the figures for Capcom's expectations during the fiscal year of 2003 are as follows:

PS2: 6,830,000 target (34 releases)
GameCube: 3,230,000 target (18 releases)
Xbox: 280,000 target (10 releases)
Gameboy Advance: 2,040,000 target (17 releases)

Capcom's vice president Heiji Oshima has said they're banking on games like Biohazard Outbreak and Dino Crisis 3 to improve PS2 and Xbox figures. He also mentioned that Resident Evil 4 may not be released until the next fiscal year.