Don't Diss Your Fanbase...

If there is one major pet peeve I have, it is when a developer takes a franchise, which was established on a particular company’s console and moves it to rival console (without a good reason). Right now, the two guiltiest parties are Capcom and Sega, both of whom haphazardly dismissed the fans that supported them in an attempt to cash in on some monetary 1st party compensation. Titles like Resident Evil (PSone -> NGC), Dino Crisis (PSone -> Xbox) and Phantasy Star (NGC/Xbox -> PS2) are but a few of the popular game franchises that had strong and growing fan bases on viable consoles and then were moved to a rival one. When this happens, nobody wins in the long term. Sure, companies like Capcom and Sega may get the immediate financial compensation, but that pales in comparison to the damage that is generally done to the different series. A majority of the time, sales numbers and overall profit drop significantly and interest in the franchise never reaches the point it once was.



The Resident Evil series is probably the best example of this. Originally released on the first PlayStation, the series was hugely successful and continued to grow in popularity with each new title. In all, four titles (one was a spin-off) were released and it was expected that the next title would appear on the PS2. However, Capcom took its first step downhill and decided to create CODE: Veronica for the Dreamcast. However, since most of those console owners had never owned a PSone or played an RE game before, Capcom had to port the original three titles over for continuity. Eventually, a PS2 version of CODE: Veronica was released, but a lot of the original fans were starting to lose interest. At least, they felt, the series was returning back to a Sony console. Wrong. Capcom decides to once again splinter the fan base and announces an exclusive deal with Nintendo for the next three RE titles. Now, considering only one RE game (Part 2) had ever been released on a Nintendo home console, it came as a great surprise and shock to pretty much everyone. Since that time, the series has dropped in popularity and sales numbers (though it does still break a million units) and will probably never again achieve its original level of success.

On a related note, Oddworld Inhabitant’s Lorne Lanning recently commented on the less-than-stellar sales of “Stranger’s Wrath” and put a lot of the blame on Electronic Arts. However, I think his decision to abandon the Sony console fan base (established with Abe) in favor of going with Xbox may have sealed his fate some time ago. As a result, OWI’s Xbox titles have sold rather poorly and the company, itself, has since moved on to focusing purely on movies and animation. What an unfortunate, but possibly foreseeable, turn of events.



Resident Evil and the Oddworld series are just two examples of what can happen to franchises should they carelessly be thrown around. Every once in a while, moving a franchise to another platform can help to achieve a greater level of success (i.e. Final Fantasy), but what often seems to happen is a drop in sales and a quickly growing level of disinterest in the particular series. The same thing might happen to Soul Calibur, as Namco has forsaken both Xbox and NGC (which it sold best on) fans in favor of making SCIII a PS2 exclusive. Only time will tell if their decision was the right one. Needless to say, the odds are against them.