Capcom facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Capcom Co., Ltd.

Headquarters in Chūō-ku, Osaka
Native name	株式会社カプコン
Romanized name	Kabushiki-gaisha Kapukon
Type	Public
Traded as	TYO: 9697
ISIN	ISIN: [https://isin.toolforge.org/?language=en&isin=JP3218900003 JP3218900003]
Industry	Video games
Founded	May 30, 1979; 46 years ago (1979-05-30)
Founder	Kenzo Tsujimoto
Headquarters	Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan
Key people	Kenzo Tsujimoto (chairman and CEO) Haruhiro Tsujimoto (president and COO)
Products	Complete list of games
Revenue	¥169.6 billion (2024)
Operating income	¥65.7 billion (2024)
Net income	¥48.4 billion (2024)
Owner	Tsujimoto family (22.71%)
Number of employees	3,766 (2025)
Divisions	Development Division 1–2
Subsidiaries	See § Branches and subsidiaries

Capcom Co., Ltd. (Japanese: 株式会社カプコン, Hepburn: Kabushiki-gaisha Kapukon) is a Japanese company that makes video games. It has created many popular and best-selling game series. Some of its most famous games include Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, and Mega Man.

Capcom started in 1979 and has grown into a worldwide company. It has offices in places like Hong Kong, London in England, and San Francisco, California in the United States.

Capcom's Journey: From Arcades to Consoles

How Capcom Began (1979-1984)

Capcom's story began on May 30, 1979. A person named Kenzo Tsujimoto founded a company called I.R.M. Corporation. He was also the president of another company, Irem Corporation, at the same time. He worked for both until 1983.

The first companies that formed Capcom in Japan were I.R.M. and Japan Capsule Computers Co., Ltd. These companies focused on making and selling electronic game machines. In September 1981, they changed their name to Sanbi Co., Ltd. Then, on June 11, 1983, Tsujimoto started Capcom Co., Ltd. to handle sales.

In January 1989, Capcom Co., Ltd. and Sanbi Co., Ltd. joined together. This created the Capcom company we know today in Japan. The name "Capcom" comes from "Capsule Computers." This term was used for the arcade machines they made early on. They wanted their games to feel like "a capsule packed with gaming fun." They also wanted to protect their ideas from illegal copies.

Capcom's first product was a game called Little League in July 1983. Their first arcade video game was Vulgus, released in May 1984. They started making games for players around the world with the arcade hit 1942 in 1984. Popular arcade games like Commando and Ghosts 'n Goblins in 1985 helped Capcom become very successful.

Making Games for Home Consoles (1985-1999)

Capcom started making games for home consoles in December 1985. Their first console game was 1942 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Making games for home consoles soon became their main business.

Capcom created famous home video game series like Resident Evil in 1996. One of their most successful games was the fighting game Street Fighter II from 1991. This game was a huge hit in arcades.

In the late 1980s, Capcom was facing financial trouble. A game called Mahjong Gakuen became very popular and helped save the company. It sold more copies than Ghouls 'n Ghosts, which was a top arcade game in Japan in 1989.

Capcom was known for sticking with 2D games for a long time. Games like Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors and X-Men: Children of the Atom had cool 2D cartoon-like graphics. This style became a signature for Capcom.

In 1990, Capcom also entered the bowling business with Bowlingo. This was a smaller, automated mini-bowling game for amusement arcades. It earned a lot of money in North America.

Capcom also turned its Street Fighter game series into a movie in 1994. Later, in 2002, they made a movie based on their Resident Evil series. These movies helped make their video games even more popular.

Moving to Modern Gaming Systems (2000-2009)

In the early 2000s, Capcom focused on updating its games for newer systems. They changed many of their 2D games into 3D. A very successful game from this time was Resident Evil 4 for the GameCube in 2005. This game was highly praised and sold very well. It was later released on many other systems. Another big success was Street Fighter IV in 2008.

Capcom stopped making arcade games for the American market in 2003. They closed their arcade branch in March 2004. However, they continued to be involved in the arcade business in Japan.

Challenges and Changes (2009-2017)

Between 2009 and 2017, some of Capcom's games did not do as well as expected. For example, Resident Evil 5 (2009) and Resident Evil 6 (2012) focused too much on action and less on the scary survival elements. Street Fighter V (2016) was released with not enough single-player content.

Capcom also worked with other companies to make games. They partnered with QLOC to bring their games to different platforms. This included the PC version of DmC: Devil May Cry and Dragon's Dogma.

In 2012, Capcom received some criticism for how they sold certain game content. They were also criticized for not releasing some games outside of Japan. They also canceled some projects that players were looking forward to.

In 2014, Capcom had a legal disagreement with another company, Koei Tecmo Games. Capcom claimed that Koei Tecmo used a game feature that Capcom had a patent for. The issue was later resolved.

Focusing on Popular Games (2017-Present)

After a few years of challenges, Capcom changed its strategy in the mid-2010s. They decided to focus on making their successful game series even better. They realized that some of their games were trying to be like Western games but didn't quite get it right. So, they decided to make games that would be fun for players all over the world.

Capcom's studios in Japan started working with their other studios around the world. This helped them create games that appealed to more players. They also developed a new game engine called the RE Engine. This engine helped their teams make games for many different consoles.

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017) was the first game made with this new approach. Critics said it brought the series back to its scary roots. They used a similar idea for the Monster Hunter series. Monster Hunter: World (2018) made the game easier for new players to learn. This game was highly praised and became Capcom's best-selling game.

In 2019, Sega took over the technical services for Capcom's arcade games.

In November 2020, Capcom's computer systems were attacked by hackers. The hackers scrambled their data and claimed to have stolen a lot of company information. Capcom confirmed that no credit card or sensitive financial information was taken.

In 2021, Capcom removed the Rising Sun Flag from a new release of Street Fighter II. This was likely done to avoid upsetting some players around the world.

In June 2021, an artist named Judy A. Juracek filed a lawsuit against Capcom. She claimed Capcom used images from her book without permission in games like Resident Evil 4. This was discovered because of the 2020 hacker attack. The issue was settled in February 2022.

In February 2022, a company from Saudi Arabia bought a small part of Capcom for about $332 million. In July 2023, Capcom bought a computer graphics studio called Swordcanes Studio. In July 2024, they bought another studio, Minimum Studios, in Taiwan.

How Capcom Works

Game Development Teams

Capcom has different teams that create games. In the beginning, they had "Planning Rooms" led by famous game creators. Later, they had numbered "Production Studios" for different games. Since 2002, they have worked to share ideas and skills better.

Capcom has two main teams for making games for players:

• Division 1: This team, led by Jun Takeuchi, makes games like Resident Evil, Mega Man, and Devil May Cry. These games are often for players all over the world.
• Division 2: This team, led by Ryozo Tsujimoto, makes games like Ace Attorney and Monster Hunter. These games are popular in Asia and also online.

Capcom also works with other game studios to make sure they release enough games. However, they now mostly use outside studios for sequels or new versions of existing games. They keep new game ideas for their own teams to develop.

Capcom's Locations and Other Businesses

Capcom Co., Ltd.'s main office and research building are in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. They also have offices in Tokyo and Mie Prefecture.

The Capcom Group has 12 smaller companies in Japan, other parts of East Asia, North America, and Europe.

Besides making games for home, online, and mobile, Capcom also publishes strategy guides. They have their own Plaza Capcom arcade centers in Japan. They also license their game characters and ideas for movies, TV shows, and stage performances.

Suleputer is a company that works with Capcom to release CDs, DVDs, and other media based on Capcom's games. Capcom also holds an event called Captivate each year to announce new games and business plans.

Capcom's Creations

Game Hardware

Capcom's first arcade board system was the CP System, released in 1988. They later created the CP System II and CP System III.

In 2019, Capcom released the Capcom Home Arcade. This device has 16 classic Capcom arcade games built into it.

Game Technology

Capcom uses special technology to make their games. Two important ones are:

• MT Framework
• RE Engine

Top Selling Games

Capcom has many games that have sold millions of copies. They keep a list of "Platinum Titles" for games that have sold over one million copies. This list has more than 100 video games.

Here are Capcom's top 10 best-selling game series:

Capcom started its Street Fighter series in 1987. These fighting games are very popular. They have sold over 50 million copies and are one of Capcom's most important game series. The company also launched its Mega Man series in 1987, which has sold over 40 million copies.

In 1996, Capcom released the first game in its Resident Evil series. This survival horror series became its most successful, selling over 150 million copies. After the second Resident Evil game, Capcom started a new game for PlayStation 2. It was so different that they made it into its own series, Devil May Cry. The first three games were only for PlayStation 2, but later games were released on other consoles. The whole series has sold over 30 million copies.

Capcom began its Monster Hunter series in 2004. This series has sold over 100 million copies on many different consoles.

Here are Capcom's top 10 best-selling individual games:

More About Capcom

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Companies Started by Former Capcom Employees

Many talented people who worked at Capcom later started their own game companies. Here are a few:

See also

In Spanish: Capcom para niños