But Monster Hunter: World’s sales ensure forecast stays the same.
Capcom has announced that it expects to incur 4.5 billion yen (around $40 million USD / £30.5 million / $55.7 million AUD) in losses following the termination of a number of projects at its Vancouver studio.
In the wake of a restructure at Capcom Vancouver earlier this year that resulted in around 30 percent of the studio being laid off and the apparent cancellation of an unannounced game, Capcom has disclosed that the termination of the projects at the Dead Rising studio will amount to a $40 million loss “under cost of sales” for the “six months of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019.” Capcom also confirmed to Kotaku that the Vancouver studio will indeed be closed, in addition to the cancellation of its projects.
According to Kotaku, the cancelled project at Capcom Vancouver was a third-person action-adventure set in an alternate reality version of New York. The layoffs were also accompanied by the news that the scope of the next Dead Rising game would be cut back.
The losses at Vancouver reflect Capcom’s ongoing review of “the allocation of its development resources that support the production of world-class content,” with the studio being responsible for the majority of development of titles for the global market outside of Japan.
However, thanks to the resounding success Capcom has had with the launch of Monster Hunter: World on console and PC, the forecast for the company as a whole remains in line with its projected financial results shared back in May.
“Regarding Capcom’s full-year business forecast, due to factors including the continued robust performance of the PC version of Monster Hunter: World exceeding the company’s expectations since its release on the Steam platform in August, following the blockbuster performance of the title after its initial release in January of this year, the forecast for Capcom’s consolidated business results remains the same as what was projected at the financial results announcement on May 8, 2018,” read the press release.
Monster Hunter: World is Capcom’s best selling game ever, and sold 8 million copies on console alone, in the run-up to its PC release. Back in August, the game was the biggest Steam launch of 2018 to date.
You can check out our review of the PC version, as well as keyboard and mouse tips and tricks right here.
Shabana is a freelance writer who enjoys JRPGs, wine, and not finishing games. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.