Capcom on RE and downloadable content on Wii

Capcom's Christian Svensson, Senior Director of Strategic Planning & Research at the company, has spoken with GamaSutra about the presence of Resident Evil on Wii, and the success expected with the rebirth of Resident Evil 4. In addition, Svensson touched on the possibility of making original downloadable content available on Nintendo's new console.



Resident Evil, as a franchise, is very Wii focussed "in the near term," according to Svensson. "Resident
Evil 4 has been very well received and has gotten good feedback from
retail, in response to our pricing strategy [of $29.99 in North
America]."


Asked whether the potential of Resident Evil 4
will finally be realised when it arrives on Wii - given the smaller
installed user-base it was released to on the GameCube - Svensson
expressed no regret at its initial release on GameCube. "Resident Evil 4 was the number-one selling title for the GameCube in 2005, which is hard for a third-party," he said. "So it's hard to say that that was really a bad decision. It's gone on to sell very, very well on PS2."



On the subject of releasing original content for download on Wii, Svensson continued, "We
know a lot about that. There are some file size limitations that don't
dovetail well with what we've currently got on PS3 and Xbox 360. I
would love to put the content that we have on the Wii, and I think it's
a great audience for the type of content, especially for Street Fighter
and Puzzle Fighter.



"We're still thinking about ways that we can get that content to them,
perhaps not downloaded, but perhaps with a consolidated retail SKU.
We're still just tossing around ideas in our head."



Although, Svensson said that making original content available for download is [i]"possible," but added, "I
think you'll have to talk more to Nintendo about that. It's not a
technical limitation thing, though. We're certainly going to be able to
deliver. It's really more of them getting their process in place for
approvals and their pipeline in place."



He concluded, "I know they have
loads of people who want to make content, but I think it's a matter of
some people turning on the spigot. We've been asked about bringing our
stuff over. It's going to happen. Once that spigot is opened and the
floodgates are unleashed, I'm sure you'll see loads of it."