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Capcom
In the late 1980s, a Japanese video game company teetered on the brink of financial collapse, facing a future that looked more like bankruptcy than stardom. The savior was not a groundbreaking action title or a revolutionary new console, but a strip Mahjong game called Mahjong Gakuen. This unexpected hit outsold the company's flagship action title Ghouls 'n Ghosts, which was the eighth highest-grossing arcade game of 1989 in Japan, and single-handedly pulled Capcom out of its financial crisis. The company's origins trace back to the 30th of May 1979, when Kenzo Tsujimoto, who was still serving as president of Irem Corporation, founded I.R.M. Corporation. Tsujimoto worked at both companies simultaneously until he left Irem in 1983 to fully commit to his new venture. The original entities, I.R.M. and its subsidiary Japan Capsule Computers Co., Ltd., were dedicated to manufacturing and distributing electronic game machines. In September 1981, these two companies merged and changed their name to Sanbi Co., Ltd. On the 11th of June 1983, Tsujimoto established Capcom Co., Ltd. to take over the internal sales department, creating a structure that would eventually evolve into the global giant known today. The name Capcom itself is a clipped compound of Capsule Computers, a term coined by the company to describe the arcade machines it solely manufactured in its early years. The word Capsule alluded to how Capcom likened its game software to a capsule packed to the brim with gaming fun, while also reflecting a desire to protect its intellectual property with a hard outer shell, preventing illegal copies and inferior imitations. The company's first product was the medal game Little League in July 1983, followed by Fever Chance in October 1983. In December 1983, the video arcade Acty 24 was opened under the direct management of Capcom, marking the beginning of their direct consumer engagement. Their first arcade video game, Vulgus, was released in May 1984, but it was the arcade hit 1942 later that same year that signaled a shift in strategy. Starting with 1942, Capcom began designing games with international markets in mind, a decision that would define their future trajectory. The successful 1985 arcade games Commando and Ghosts 'n Goblins have been credited as the products that shot Capcom to 8-bit silicon stardom in the mid-1980s. Starting with Commando in late 1985, Capcom began licensing their arcade games for release on home computers, notably to British software houses Elite Systems and U.S. Gold in the late 1980s. In 1990, Capcom entered the bowling industry with Bowlingo, a coin-operated, electro-mechanical, fully automated mini ten-pin bowling installation. It was smaller than a standard bowling alley, designed to be smaller and cheaper for amusement arcades, and drew significant earnings in North America upon its release that same year.
Capcom was founded on the 11th of June 1983 by Kenzo Tsujimoto. The company originated from I.R.M. Corporation, which Tsujimoto established on the 30th of May 1979 while still serving as president of Irem Corporation.
What game saved Capcom from financial collapse in the late 1980s?
The strip Mahjong game Mahjong Gakuen saved Capcom from financial collapse in the late 1980s. This title outsold the company's flagship action title Ghouls 'n Ghosts, which was the eighth highest-grossing arcade game of 1989 in Japan.
Which Capcom game series has sold the most copies as of 2025?
The Resident Evil series is the company's most commercially successful franchise, selling over 170 million copies as of the 30th of September 2025. The first entry in the series was released in 1996 and became the most successful game series in the company's history.
What happened to Capcom during the 2020 data breach?
On the 2nd of November 2020, Capcom reported that its servers were affected by ransomware from the Ragnar Locker hacker group. The group stole 1TB of sensitive corporate data and leaked contact information for up to 350,000 employees and partners.
Who leads Capcom's Division 1 and Division 2?
Division 1 is headed by Jun Takeuchi and develops franchises such as Resident Evil and Devil May Cry. Division 2 is headed by Ryozo Tsujimoto and develops franchises such as Monster Hunter and Mega Man.
Capcom holds the distinction of being the last major publisher to be committed to 2D games, though this was not entirely by choice. The company's commitment to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as its platform of choice caused them to lag behind other leading publishers in developing 3D-capable arcade boards. This delay forced them to double down on 2D animated cartoon-style graphics, which became a signature style for the company. Games such as Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors and X-Men: Children of the Atom proved popular, leading Capcom to adopt these visuals in more titles. However, the company's true turning point came with the release of Resident Evil in 1996. This title would become the company's most commercially successful franchise, selling over 170 million copies as of the 30th of September 2025. The series began with the first entry in 1996, which became the most successful game series in the company's history. After releasing the second entry in the Resident Evil series, Capcom began a game for the PlayStation 2 that was significantly different from the existing series' games. Capcom decided to spin it into its own series, Devil May Cry. The first three entries were exclusively for PlayStation 2, and further entries were released for non-Sony consoles. The entire Devil May Cry series has sold over 30 million copies. The company also introduced its Mega Man series in 1987, which has sold over 40 million copies, and its Street Fighter franchise, which started in 1987 and has sold over 50 million copies. The company released the first entry in its Resident Evil survival horror series in 1996, which became its most successful game series. In 1994, Capcom adapted its Street Fighter series of fighting games into a film of the same name. While commercially successful, it was critically panned. A 2002 adaptation of its Resident Evil series faced similar criticism but was also successful in theaters. The company sees films as a way to build sales for its video games. In the late 1980s, Capcom was on the verge of bankruptcy when the development of a strip Mahjong game called Mahjong Gakuen started. It outsold Ghouls 'n Ghosts, the eighth highest-grossing arcade game of 1989 in Japan, and is credited with saving the company from financial crisis. Capcom has been noted as the last major publisher to be committed to 2D games, though it was not entirely by choice. The company's commitment to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as its platform of choice caused them to lag behind other leading publishers in developing 3D-capable arcade boards. Also, the 2D animated cartoon-style graphics seen in games such as Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors and X-Men: Children of the Atom proved popular, leading Capcom to adopt them as a signature style and use them in more games.
The Struggle For Modernity And Mismanagement
Despite its successes from the previous decade, Capcom released several titles that were considered misfires during the 2010s. Both Resident Evil 5 in 2009 and Resident Evil 6 in 2012 were seen to lean far too much into action-oriented gameplay while forgoing the balance with the survival horror elements of the earlier games in the series. Street Fighter V, released in 2016, was released with minimal single-player content and poor online features. Street Fighter V failed to meet its sales target of 2 million in March 2016. Capcom outsourced the next Devil May Cry title to Ninja Theory, resulting in DmC: Devil May Cry in 2013, a re-envisioning of the series that failed to resonate with players. Other newer IP like Lost Planet and Asura's Wrath also failed to gain significant audiences. Dragon's Dogma in 2012, however, was one of the few newer titles during this period to be seen as a success. In 2012, Capcom came under criticism for controversial sales tactics, such as the implementation of disc-locked content, which requires players to pay for additional content that is already available within the game's files, most notably in Street Fighter X Tekken. The company defended the practice. It has also been criticized for other business decisions, such as not releasing certain games outside of Japan, most notably the Sengoku Basara series, abruptly cancelling anticipated projects, most notably Mega Man Legends 3, and shutting down Clover Studio. On the 27th of August 2014, Capcom filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Koei Tecmo Games at the Osaka District Court for 980 million yen in damage. Capcom claimed Koei Tecmo infringed a patent it obtained in 2002 regarding a play feature in video games. In 2015, the PlayStation 4 version of Ultra Street Fighter IV was pulled from the Capcom Pro Tour due to numerous technical issues and bugs. In the early 2000s, Capcom focused many of its resources on bringing series from arcade and earlier consoles onto more modern hardware, bringing these games out from 2D to 3D space. One of the most successful titles during this period was Resident Evil 4 for the GameCube in 2005, which received universal acclaim, was a financial success for Capcom, and led to ports to multiple systems. Other major successes include Street Fighter IV in 2008. Capcom debunked rumors that it was leaving the arcade business in 2001. While it did remain in the business in Japan, it gradually left the American market in 2003 and closed its arcade subsidiary in March 2004. Capcom partnered with Nyu Media in 2011 to publish and distribute the Japanese independent dōjin soft games that Nyu localized into the English language. The company works with the Polish localization company QLOC to port Capcom's games to other platforms, notably, examples are DmC: Devil May Cry PC version and its PlayStation 4 and Xbox One remasters, Dragon's Dogma PC version, and Dead Rising version on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
The Renaissance Of A Global Giant
Following several years of unclear direction, management at Capcom changed in the mid-2010s to try to refocus the company on its successful properties. The company recognized that many of their titles during that period were attempts to bring Western game concepts into their titles but without failing to capture how these mechanics were implemented in Western games. To correct this, the company changed its approach to try to develop games that would be fun for players worldwide, rather than developing games that felt like they were niche Japanese titles. The main studios in Japan began reaching out to Capcom's other worldwide studios to collaborate on game design to appeal to a broader range of players. Additionally, Capcom began developing the RE Engine to replace the older MT Framework, helping their studios develop across a wider range of hardware including newer consoles. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard in 2017 was the first game Capcom released under this new approach, which critics saw as a return to the series' roots. A similar approach was used to bring the Monster Hunter series, generally seen as a niche Japanese game due to its steep learning curve, to a broader market. Monster Hunter: World in 2018 was developed to modernize the series' gameplay to simplify the learning curve. The game received critical praise and became Capcom's best-selling game as of 2025. The company compiles a Platinum Titles list, updated quarterly, of its games that have sold over one million copies. It contains over 100 video games. This table shows the top ten titles, by sold copies, as of the 30th of September 2025. Monster Hunter: World has sold 21.80 million copies, Monster Hunter Rise has sold 17.80 million copies, Resident Evil 2 has sold 16.30 million copies, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard has sold 15.90 million copies, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne has sold 15.60 million copies, Resident Evil Village has sold 12.80 million copies, Resident Evil 4 has sold 11.10 million copies, Devil May Cry 5 has sold 10.70 million copies, Monster Hunter Wilds has sold 10.70 million copies, and Resident Evil 3 has sold 10.60 million copies. On the 28th of January 2019, Capcom announced that Sega would take over technical services for its arcade games starting in April. In 2021, Capcom removed appearances of the Rising Sun Flag from their rerelease of Street Fighter II. Although Capcom did not provide an official explanation for the flag's removal, due to the flag-related controversy, it is speculated that it was done so to avoid offending segments of the international gaming community. In February 2022, it was reported by Bloomberg that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund had purchased a 5% stake in Capcom for an approximate value of US$332 million. In July 2023, Capcom acquired Tokyo-based computer graphics studio Swordcanes Studio. In July 2024, Capcom acquired Taiwan-based computer graphics studio Minimum Studios.
The Ransomware Attack And Legal Battles
On the 2nd of November 2020, the company reported that its servers were affected by ransomware, scrambling its data, and the threat actors, the Ragnar Locker hacker group, had allegedly stolen 1TB of sensitive corporate data and were blackmailing Capcom to pay them to remove the ransomware. By mid-November, the group began putting information from the hack online, which included contact information for up to 350,000 of the company's employees and partners, as well as plans for upcoming games, indicating that Capcom opted to not pay the group. Capcom affirmed that no credit-card or other sensitive financial information was obtained in the hack. Artist and author Judy A. Juracek filed a lawsuit in June 2021 against Capcom for copyright infringement. In the court filings, she asserted Capcom had used images from her 1996 book Surfaces in their cover art and other assets for Resident Evil 4, Devil May Cry and other games. This was discovered due to the 2020 Capcom data breach, with several files and images matching those that were included within the book's companion CD-ROM. The court filings noted one image file of a metal surface, named ME0009 in Capcom's files, to have the same exact name on the book's CD-ROM. Juracek was seeking over in damages and $2,500 to $25,000 in false copyright management for each photograph Capcom used. Before a court date could be made, the matter was settled amicably in February 2022. It comes on the heels of Capcom being accused by Dutch movie director Richard Raaphorst of copying the monster design of his movie Frankenstein's Army into their game Resident Evil Village. The company also faced criticism for other business decisions, such as not releasing certain games outside of Japan, most notably the Sengoku Basara series, abruptly cancelling anticipated projects, most notably Mega Man Legends 3, and shutting down Clover Studio. In 2012, Capcom came under criticism for controversial sales tactics, such as the implementation of disc-locked content, which requires players to pay for additional content that is already available within the game's files, most notably in Street Fighter X Tekken. The company defended the practice. In 2015, the PlayStation 4 version of Ultra Street Fighter IV was pulled from the Capcom Pro Tour due to numerous technical issues and bugs. On the 27th of August 2014, Capcom filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Koei Tecmo Games at the Osaka District Court for 980 million yen in damage. Capcom claimed Koei Tecmo infringed a patent it obtained in 2002 regarding a play feature in video games.
The Architecture Of A Development Empire
In its beginning few years, Capcom's Japan branch had three development groups referred to as Planning Rooms, led by Tokuro Fujiwara, Takashi Nishiyama and Yoshiki Okamoto. In 1988, Capcom restructured into two divisions where one focused on arcade games and the other focused on console games. These two divisions were led by Okamoto and Fujiwara, respectively. Later, games developed internally were created by several numbered Production Studios, each assigned to different games. Starting in 2002, the development process was reformed to share technologies and expertise better, and the individual studios were gradually restructured into bigger departments responsible for different tasks. While there are self-contained departments for the creation of arcade, pachinko and pachislot, online, and mobile games, the Consumer Games R&D Division is an amalgamation of subsections in charge of game development stages. Capcom has two internal Consumer Games Development divisions. Division 1, headed by Jun Takeuchi, develops Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Dead Rising, Dragon's Dogma, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Okami and other major franchises, usually targeting audiences globally. Division 2, headed by Ryozo Tsujimoto, develops Monster Hunter, Mega Man, Ace Attorney, Onimusha and other franchises with more traditional IP, usually targeting audiences in Asia, alongside fighting game franchises like Street Fighter and Marvel vs. Capcom. In addition to these teams, Capcom commissions outside development studios to ensure a steady output of titles. However, following poor sales of Dark Void and Bionic Commando, its management has decided to limit outsourcing to sequels and newer versions of installments in existing franchises, reserving the development of original titles for its in-house teams. The production of games, budgets, and platform support are decided on in development approval meetings, attended by the company management and the marketing, sales and quality control departments. Although the company often relies on existing franchises, it has also published and developed several titles for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii based on original intellectual property: Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, Dead Rising, Dragon's Dogma, Asura's Wrath, and Zack and Wiki. During this period, Capcom also helped publish several original titles from up-and-coming Western developers, including Remember Me, Dark Void, and Spyborgs, titles other publishers were not willing to gamble on. Other games of note are the titles Okami, Okamiden, and Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. Capcom's first arcade board system was the CP System, released in 1988 with the game Forgotten Worlds. They later designed the CP System II and CP System III. In 2019, Capcom released the Capcom Home Arcade, containing a total of 16 built-in CPS-1 and CPS-2 emulated games. Suleputer, an in-house marketing and music label established in cooperation with Sony Music Entertainment Intermedia in 1998, publishes CDs, DVDs, and other media based on Capcom's games. Captivate, renamed from Gamers Day in 2008, is an annual private media summit, traditionally used for new game and business announcements. Capcom Co., Ltd.'s head office building and R&D building are in Chūō-ku, Osaka. The parent company also has a branch office in the Shinjuku Mitsui Building in Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo, and the Ueno Facility, a branch office in Iga, Mie Prefecture. The international Capcom Group encompasses 12 subsidiaries in Japan, rest of East Asia, North America, and Europe.