Christian Svensson - Part Two

I think new IP is always hard. Three years ago, the difference is you're at the beginning of a hardware cycle, where you have the most hardcore consumers who are the most accepting of fresh new ideas. Don't get me wrong, they want their Modern Warfare 3, they love their franchises, but they are also guys who are on the lookout for, and want to evangelise, new playing experiences. We're going to have a longer hardware cycle this time around, so it's going to be a little bit different.

We have a broader audience than we had three years ago. Our new audience may have brought a USD 199 Xbox, or a USD 299 PS3, or a USD 199 Wii - that's a slightly different consumer from the person who would put down USD 599 or USD 499 for a PS3 three years ago. This is a more brand-centric, price sensitive consumer than that earlier consumer, and they are less likely to be as informed about 'that new IP from Capcom' than those guys from three years ago.

Now, those guys from three years ago are still there, but they have a lot more choice in the market today, between what's new and hot, and a slew of 'greatest hits' that are well known and great value for money. So you're competing not just against what's out on the market today, but what's been out on the market for the last three years.

A subject very near and dear to my heart.

If it were up to me it would be tomorrow. However, there are other gatekeepers who will make those decisions for me. Sony, I think, has taken a very bold step with the PSPgo - I think it is an excellent first step in the all-digital future. I am eagerly awaiting the day that Microsoft expands its Games on Demand programme to encompass more than just platinum hits.

Xbox Live Arcade, as you know, we've been a major component of, and the PlayStation Network. We've been more aggressive than any of our other competitors in pushing digital-only gaming content.

We have twelve or thirteen released titles, with more on the way. It has been one of my major initiatives at Capcom to make sure we are at the forefront of understanding how the mechanics of digital distribution and marketing work. Because it is very different from retailing packaged goods.

There are going to be a lot of other companies that are going to approach digital as they do retail, and they are going to lose a lot of money. Figuring out the right scales, figuring out the right vehicles for marketing, figuring out the right announcement strategies: they're all different with digital. It's not rocket science, but until you go through it a few times, and until you figure out how to build the right products for that audience - because this is a slightly different audience too, with very specific tastes - people are going to struggle.

There are challenges to digital: there is not the transparency of sales figures. So building models around what you think your forecast is going to be and what you should spend on a title is difficult. A lot of publishers have been going by Braille -some have been lucky; some have been not so lucky.

Not everything Capcom have done has been successful, but that's par for the course for our business. We have three titles that have drastically over-performed our expectations, the most recent of which was Marvel vs Capcom 2, which we didn't expect to exceed Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HG Remix's numbers, but it has.

A couple of our new IPs have not quite performed to the level that we would have hoped, one performed almost exactly as forecast, and I would argue that the ones that are underperforming are less to do with the market and more to do with the products, and their appropriateness for where they went.

But it has been a learning experience, no question about it. So, am I happy with it? Absolutely. I'm really thrilled that we've been able to make a real business out of digital.

Is it a huge chunk of our revenues? No, but it's a growing chunk. Because of the margins in that business for us, I'm cautiously optimistic that it's going to play a larger role in what we do.

It depends. Look at the PC: It's already there. Our digital business on PC is already generating more revenue than our retail business. It's just going to be a matter of time before the console side catches up. Part of the reason why I participate as actively as I do in the PC Gaming Alliance is because anything interesting that happens on the PC eventually migrates to the console. So learning and understanding what works on PC, on whatever scale it's happening there, will have interesting ripples further down the line in console models.