Capcom SVP Acknowledges Fans, Door Still Shut on Kickstarter

Capcom’s Senior Vice-President of Planning and Business Development  Christian Svensson has publicly commented on the Facebook-based Get Me Off the Moon campaign to release Mega Man Legends 3. And after over a week of posts asking for recognition in the “Ask Capcom” forums, Svensson had this to say:

I’ve watched this thread for several days I’m not sure how to respond to this thread in any way that doesn’t get misinterpreted and rebroadcast all across the net. As such, beyond this message with a little /nod to the guys who’ve displayed such passion and love, I’m not sure there’s any “official” response I or anyone else can give you.

The Get Me Off the Moon campaign (now at nearly 85,000 members) acknowledged that this is in no way official encouragement or a sign of things to come. While an underwhelming response for eleven pages of requests for official recognition, it is not as if Svensson has been quiet about Mega Man Legends 3 in general. The same day he acknowledged the widespread desire for Legends 3, he reiterated Capcom’s position on the use of Kickstarter, the crowd-funding website used to raise money for a variety of creative projects, which has sparked debate amongst fans:

I’m thrilled for Tim and the DF guys (chatted with a number of them at Dice about it last week) however I’m not convinced the positive response they received for the move would be the same for any publisher on any project.

So that’s a longer way of saying that this isn’t likely to be a path we’d be able to tread.

The idea of using Kickstarter to fund Legends 3 is nothing new, as Svensson has commented in the past during an interview with Game Informer:

Double Fine’s Kickstarter project is somewhat similar to the Mega Man Legends 3 project in that it allowed fans to offer input and see a project go through the development process.

I’m very happy for Tim [Schafer]. If anyone deserves that kind of love and support it’s certainly those guys. They make great content and I’m really happy they get to do that.

However, I think they’re one of the very few people that could pull this off and get that kind of support. They are a developer that doesn’t necessarily have the capital to self-fund so the need is there. And as a result people are happy to open their wallets and support them. I think that if a publisher that has capital were to try this, I don’t think the PR and fan reaction would be quite as positive.

I’m not saying there aren’t some people that would. I think there are loads of people for specific brands that would open their wallets to demonstrate support for any amount. I’m not convinced companies like EA, Activision, or Capcom could ask fans to fund dormant franchises. That’s a challenging prospect, I think.

Incidentally, Capcom’s corporate website for old-fashioned indirect funding (i.e. stocks and other investment) features Mega Man characters (Rockboard?). The door may be shut on the use of Kickstarter, but it is always good to know that Capcom is aware the campaign to bring back Mega Man Legends 3 is still strong.

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