I knew Capcom was doing pretty well, but its stock is skyrocketing
We all know they've made few missteps in recent years, but the moneymen say "full steam ahead."
It's been hard to ignore the amazing run Capcom's been on for the past few years, and that repeated excellence is being reflected in the stock market. According to industry consultant Dr. Serkan Toto, Capcom's stock hit a record high ¥4,865 ($36.74) a share on April 3.
It's Monday noon in Japan where Capcom's stock today hit 4,865 yen earlier in the morning, an all-time high for the company.(Screenshot shows the price at the current 4,850 yen.) pic.twitter.com/xexMEtfNypApril 3, 2023
A March 23 analysis from Seeking Alpha (users may encounter a paywall) predicted that the release of the Resident Evil 4 Remake would herald good things for the company, and pointed to the game's strong reviews compared to 2021's Resident Evil Village. Seeking Alpha forecasts over 10 million unit sales for the long-awaited remake over the next 12 months, and recommended readers invest in the stock (perhaps too late for you to take advantage of that now though, bucko).
It's great times for Capcom, which is all the more impressive if you consider where the publisher was just 10 years ago. Street Fighter was still dominant in the fighting game community, but Resident Evil was in a doldrums, never seeming able to reach the highs of the original Resident Evil 4. Monster Hunter was a reliable seller in Japan that suffered from the Dragon Quest curse in the West, and Devil May Cry was on ice, with its most recent entry a divisive reboot/spinoff from UK developer Ninja Theory.
The arrival of Resident Evil 7 in 2017 heralded a shift in Capcom's fortunes, while the next year's Monster Hunter World finally brought the series major success in the West. Since then it's been a string of critical and commercial successes like the Resident Evil 2 remake, Devil May Cry 5, and Monster Hunter Rise, though there is the lone exception of 2020's dud of a Resident Evil 3 remake.
Capcom's success further stands out when compared to how other big, third-party publishers are faring, Japanese or otherwise. Konami seems financially healthy, but has pivoted away from game development in a big way, while Square Enix's consistently good games are bogged down by poor PC ports and a baffling commitment by company leadership to crypto and NFTs. EA was rumored to be seeking to get acquired last year, while Ubisoft had to cancel games as its share price plummeted in January. Amidst that bleak field of humbled titans, Capcom is doing great.