Anything from EVO that said about Darkstalkers?
Any hope that they bring that series back into the circuit?
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There was nothing about Darkstalkers at EVO. People were waiting expectantly of it, but there was nothing.
So at this point, I’d say no. I don’t think there are any plans to bring Darkstalkers back.
This is a difficult discussion b cause I know there is a significant community that would be interested in a new Darkstalkers. But Capcom has tested the waters with the Darkstalkers re release a few years ago and with Darkstalkers in MvCi and not been rewarded for their efforts. It’s really difficult for me to chart a path where Capcom is able to make and release a Darkstalkers game that will be a good return on investment - even though I’m sure there are people who want it.
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That’s kind of unfair. The reasons MvCI failed had nothing to do with the darkstalkers characters. If anything, Jeddah was one of the things that received praise from the public.
I didn’t say MvCi failed because of Darkstalkers. But having Jeddah (and the omnipresent Morrigan) in the game certainly didn’t save it.
I don’t think it makes sense to use sales of a remaster that you release for $40 even though all three original games have already been on sale for consoles as a barometer for whether a new game would be successful either. But Capcom has stated that weak sales of the Darkstalkers collection made them rule out a new game. So there it is.
Don’t blame the messenger.
darkstalkers resurrection was screwed over because just weeks before they re-released darkstalkers 3. so ppl were like wtf we gotta pay another 40 bucks just to play online? i bit the bullet as did many others. iirc, DS resurrection was 2nd place in sales the month of its release on PSN trailing behind lara croft’s comeback Tomb Raider 1. it made the sales, but capcom didnt think it was enough (ironically square enix thought over a million copies sold online for TR was also a flop). then later capcom would give everyone blue balls saying “darkstalkers arent dead”.
i remember reading a comment somewhere that at the time, capcom and square enix were overshooting their expectations, you know expecting COD level of sales. with MvCi failure, i think capcom will just go all in with SF5 even if that game itself is railed on by many from casuals to pros.
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This is pretty much all true as far as I remember.
I think Darkstalkers is a well liked niche game within the niche genre that is fighting games. But the lesson from MvCi is that Capcom’s fans will beg them for a sequel and then fail to support that sequel when they get it. Whether that’s fair or the “right” message to take home from MvCi is not the point. But as I said, I would be hard pressed to make an evidence based argument that Darkstalkers would make money.
From what I understand, Jedah was a welcome addition and is one of the more popular characters in MvCI. Not to mention he was one of the better looking characters in that game, and his performance in the Story mode is probably the best one out of all of them.
Okay but… so what?
Oh, wait, I think I read it wrong.
I thought you meant his inclusion in MvCI didn’t help Darkstalkers, as if him being in that game would hurt the chances of a new Darkstalkers happening. But you were talking about MvCI, right?
Well, if anything, some people bought MvCI because of Jedah’s addition. Not enough to, as you say, save it, but still.
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Yeah. And pointing out that the failure of MvCi likely didn’t give Capcom a big reason to produce a new Darkstalkers game. But I think the big lesson they will walk away from MvCi with isthat even if fans beg you for something for years and then you give it to them, they aren’t necessarily going to buy the game.
Well, the lacking sales of MvCI is Capcom’s (and Marvel’s) own fault.
The entire aesthetic of the game, not to mention the lack of X-Men characters, is what drove people from buying the game.
Yes, people wanted a new MvC game, but that doesn’t mean they should take any crap thrown at them, just because it has the name MvC slapped onto it.
It doesn’t matter how you or I see it. The question is how does Capcom see it. I’d be really surprised if they thought MvCi was “any crap thrown at them.” (Truthfully, I don’t either)
From there point of view I suspect it seems like the fans asked for a game, got a game and then didn’t buy it. So when fans ask for Darkstalkers they are not going to assume they would actually buy it (which is, frankly, smart).
True, and them taking the blame for their own mistakes would be a cold day in hell before that happens.
Yeah I kinda wish Capcom would use a little more nuance in discerning the issues with the Darkstalkers rerelease as well as MVCI when evaluating interest for a potential new game in the Darkstalkers series.
Sure, they could look at the lukewarm sales and reaction of both and come to the assumption that there’s not a lot of demand. Or they could look at the timing of the rerelease as well as the many issues with MVCI that fans had that likely affected press and sales alike and perhaps more correctly assume that it was those individual games themselves.
They made an MVC games that fell far short of fan expectations for a variety of reaons. Now sure, fans can be fickle and you’re never going to please everyone, but both MVCI and SFV have had issues that fans were never really expecting to see in a Capcom game. Some of which were game quality and some of which were Capcom decisions.
I think all of that stuff has been covered thoroughly in multiple locations from media outlets to streamers like Max. If they don’t know what they can improve upon for the next SF, the next MVC, and hopefully the next Darkstalkers if it ever comes to fruition, that’s 100% on them.
I honestly think that there is a market for a Darkstalkers game. People like those characters and you don’t have to be a diehard Capcom fan to appreciate those designs or the crazy moves they pull off. I certainly think it helps though that it’s a Capcom game, because if it’s a good, quality title, the FGC is much more likely to glom on to it.
Yeah I’m sure they don’t think that the fan rage was entirely warranted (and a lot of it wasn’t). Maybe they even disagree with many of the reviews that seemingly hated the story mode. But you’d still have to think (or hope) that they could see what the feedback was about and not use that as a reason for thinking people simply don’t want more of that series (or Dalkstalkers for that matter).
I mean, most series have a black sheep or two, right? Resident Evil 5, Mortal Kombat 4, Tekken 4… That doesn’t mean that people didn’t want games in that series anymore. It just means a good number of fans didn’t like certain aspects or decisions made in those particular games. I hope Capcom will see that’s the case with SFV (which I’d probably consider the black sheep in comparison to the previous entries) and MVCI and look for ways to improve on those in the future, rather than assume the fan well’s just run dry.
Fighting games have had such a resurgence over the last ten years. It almost seems odd that Darkstalkers shouldn’t be part of that, but maybe it’s just me. If they could make a game with characters that had the same or similar quality to Jedah in MVCI, I’d be over the moon. I think most fighting game / Capcom fans would.
Id like to see a new Darstalkers! I was looking at the Darkstalker skins for SFV last night…pretty cool!
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I admit, I’m a little torn about this. I don’t think MvCi is really a bad game. The DLC characters are all pretty great and a few of the new characters (like Jeddah) are also pretty great. And I like the 2v2 slightly less zany gameplay. I agree people shouldn’t buy what they don’t like but I kind of think people would like it if they gave it a chance.
Yeah, there’s probably a market. But I don’t know that there’s a AAA market. I think for Darkstalkers to be successful it’s going to follow the same type of model as SFV or MvCi - meaning a pretty low featured full price release that is a full game by season 3. And I think Capcom’s fans hate that model. But I can’t really imagine Capcom making a budget game.
Anyway time will tell.
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I think Capcom fans do hate that model, but I think that there are some things to learn from it that might help a smaller game like Darkstalkers. For one thing, don’t charge full price for a game that’s only about a third of the way complete, especially if you’re going to charge for additional seasons. Wasn’t KI Season 1 only $20? I mean sure, you could pay $30 and get the original KI and what not, but in theory, you could get most of KI’s three seasons for the price of a full priced game. Sure, you wouldn’t get Shago or the post-seasonal characters, but that’s still a lot. Unless I’m totally misremembering here.
I think people’s other main issues with SFV coming out of the gate was that it didn’t even have a single player mode, did it? I mean, maybe practice mode, but no arcade mode.
I’d also add that the character designs in both SFV and MvCI have been extremely mixed quality-wise. That’s on Capcom to find more consistency in this regard and I don’t know if that means different talent working on the game or utilizing the team with the best track record more or what, but if you can have awesome looking and awesome animating characters for some, you should theoretically be able to have those things for all characters.
All of that is a long way of saying that if Capcom said that they’ll release Darkstalkers as a platform game where you start with 8-10 characters, arcade mode, local and online versus and a practice mode and the initial buy in cost is $20-$25, and that season one would start in a few months, I think most people, having been used to seeing SFV grow and change and improve over the years, or having seen KI grow and evolve over the years, might be more forgiving or more interested in something like this, especially if what they see in the characters, movesets, and animations have a good level of quality and polish.
I think that Darkstalkers could be done as more of a AA game and still get fans both in and outside of the FGC and do so without angering Capcom faithful. I’m sure by now most Capcom fans have likely resigned themselves to the idea that they won’t be getting any Darkstalkers at all, so having a game that’s doled out piecemeal like this would have to be better than nothing, right?
Right? 
Okay, some will still complain, for sure. But I think that if Capcom can talk a good game and really show that they’ve learned their lessons from SFV and MvCI and that becomes very apparent in the game itself, I think even most stubborn fans will come around. Possibly. Maybe?
The bottom line is I don’t think Capcom is able to charge less. The way the company is structured and the fact that they are cash poor I think limits their ability to release a budget prices title. Maybe I’m wrong. But I think if a game like Darkstalkers is going to be made it will almost have to be outsourced and then sold cheap.
agreed, i dont see darkstalkers as a smart investment for capcom after the damage from mvci. it really is a niche game, albeit a seriously good one but i dont see it happening unless their coffers were overflowing. atm, i think MHW is their saving grace financially.
also i would like to mention that yes fans wanted a new marvel, but they didnt think about what they were doing. disney and fox at the time had different ownership of marvel properties. fox didnt want to cough up ownership of xmen, even the word “mutant” when describing charas known for being as such.
so this lead to mvci having a lackluster roster in the eyes of many. you cant have a marvel VS game without xmen heroes and villains. so when it launched, the fans were disappointed there was no wolverine, sabertooth, psylocke, storm, etc. so they didnt buy it. i think the MCU and IP ownership was a major contributing factor to its failure. the game played great, nothing wrong there at all though.