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Capcom Producer Gets Defensive and Saucy

Evidently slightly sensitive at the rather monumental success of Square's Kingdom Hearts as compared to his own love and joy, Capcom's Biohazard (both titles released simultaneously for different systems), a producer from that company recently lashed out at both Square and Sony in a radio interview. The producer, Mr. Shinji Mikami, leveled a variety of allegations against the two companies, and then offered reasons why his product has been so miserably outsold. Foremost among his accusations is the claim that Sony's various hardware is manufactured so that it is easy to break. Among various electronics he claims lack durability are Sony's PC systems, Walkmans, and Docomo cellphones, as well as the PlayStation and PlayStation 2.

To back up his claims, Mr. Mikami revealed he has had to purchase two PlayStations because the CD lens wears out quickly. Citing long loading times of up to a minute when battling in Super Robot Taisen, he indicated he had to purchase yet another PlayStation as a result of getting severely irritated by the delay. He says it is this sort of repeated buying that fuels Sony's impressive sales figures, and implied the company's market dominance might be directly related to the quality of its merchandise.

Mr. Mikami then turned his attention to Square, addressing the issue of why Kingdom Hearts is enjoying the success it has. Evidently, word of mouth, or "Aura purchasing", as he calls it, is no longer an acceptable advertising scheme; apparently, few people actually enjoy Kingdom Hearts, and most have purchased it because their friends are playing through the game. He went on to sum up this line of reasoning by declaring that the title does not derserve to have sold 780,000 units, and certainly wasn't worth the 7800 yen, or $68.00 US, price tag.

At this point in the interview, he perhaps realized some of his comments were rather unadvisable; he apologized to Square for badmouthing its game, and admitted he was upset because his game had been outsold, which upset him because he felt his game is the better title. He then generously confessed that Kingdom Hearts isn't such a bad game after all.

What happens next in this one-sided war of words is anyone's guess; most likely, it will be swept under the rug by all parties involved. Keep reading RPGamer as we bring you all the dramatic tales from the high-stakes world of the video game industry's thriving rivalries.


by Andrew Long    
Sources: [The Magicbox]
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