Japanese game developer and publisher Capcom (TYO:9697) has announced another impressive addition to its social games lineup today, promising that it will be releasing a Ghostbusters social game for iPhone and iPad in early 2013. The game, of course, will be based on the popular movie franchise from the 80s [1].

Capcom’s social games subsidiary, Beeline Interactive, has done well in the social games space thus far, racking up a total of 74 million downloads among its titles. It will be interesting to see what it does with Ghostbusters. We can only hope that they don’t cross the streams…

The Japanese publisher certainly isn’t having any trouble landing high-profile IP for its social games portfolio. Smurfs’ Village did very well for the company, reaching number one in Apple’s App Store on the free app charts in 25 countries, and number one on the top grossing charts in an astounding 72 countries.

Capcom also has the Peanuts gang on iOS, as Snoopy’s Street Fair was released late last year. It also recently pushed out Monster Hospital for iOS just a couple of weeks back. [Via GameBiz.jp]

Japanese game developer Capcom (TYO:9697) announced today that it will be entering the browser game market come this summer, with its first title Onimusha Soul slated for a June 28 release.

The Onimusha samurai survival game first appeared on PlayStation 2 in 2001 and since then has been one of the companies more popular franchises. The browser based Onimusha Soul will feature social and cooperative elements, with the possibility of fighting in groups based on Japan’s prefectures. The graphics for the game are generated using the Unity 3D development engine. It will have paid in-game content, though it is ostensibly free to play.

Capcom aims to distribute the title for PCs at first, and smartphones to follow in August. It was just last year that the company stated that it needed to look outside Japan for bigger growth opportunities. And while there wasn’t any indication that this browser title would be marketed for audiences outside Japan, Capcom has made a push on the smartphone platform with wide-appeal titles like Smurfs’ Village, Snoopy’s Street Fair, and Street Fighter IV.

The company says that it wants to hit 30 billion yen ($367 million) in sales of online content by 2015.

Capcom sales by region, 2000-2010 (millions of yen)

Japanese game-maker Capcom (TYO:9697) has just announced that its Monster Hunter 3G for Nintendo’s 3DS has shipped over one million units in Japan. The series has sold 20 million units in total since it originally launched in 2004.

The success of this latest title is likely one of the main reasons why the Nintendo 3DS has enjoyed a happy rebound, as the console will likely pass the four million mark earlier than anticipated after its disappointing start and subsequent price slash earlier this year.

Meanwhile back in the states…

And while Capcom appears to be pleasing its fans at home, some gaming fans abroad are getting their controllers all in a tangle over the recent release of Megaman X for iPhone. Capcom may have been trying to appeal to gamers’ nostalgia, but many seem to think that the less-than-stellar graphics and retro music are indications that the company just phoned this one in.

I’ll be giving it a look over the next few days and will return with my impressions soon. Personally I don’t mind the old-style game so much as I do the fact that there is no iPad version. You can see the trailer for the iPhone version below.

In its second quarter briefing Japanese game developer Capcom (TYO:9697) noted that it hopes its upcoming iOS title Snoopy’s Street Fair can outperform its wildly successful game Smurfs’ Village. *Snoopy is set to launch in Apple’s app store on November 17 according to Touchgen.net.

The game is from Capcom’s Beeline social game subsidiary, and the company hopes that it will help further grow its global brand. Besides finding success on iOS, Capcom has recently brought Smurfs’ Village and Street Fighter to the Android platform as well.

As a longtime Peanuts fan, I confess that I’m really looking forward to Capcom’s Snoopy on iOS. The recently released trailer will bring back a flood of memories for fans of the popular comic strip, and it will no doubt attract many first-time gamers as a result.

Imagine parents’ ears perking up when they hear the familiar piano tune as their kids play Snoopy! This one is going to do really well, I think.

[Photo: itopnews]

As we pointed out earlier this month, Japanese game developer Capcom feels that its entire smurfing future hinges on its success overseas, “where the market for games is larger and there is much more growth potential.” It has already smurfed some success with Smurfs’ Village for iOS. With over 15 million downloads, it is reportedly the top-grossing app in 69 countries.

And now Capcom is hoping that this success can can be replicated on the Android platform as well. The company’s subsidiary, Beeline Interactive, will begin smurfing social games in the Android Market, beginning with Smurf’s Village today.

So far the game is available in only Australia, France, and Canada, with worldwide availability coming soon. You can download the game from the Android Market. Hopefully we can see more Capcom titles smurfing to Android in the near future.

We spoke to a Capcom representative at the recent Tokyo Game Show 2011. Regrettably there was not a single smurf available who could discuss Beeline with us.

Korean electronics company LG announced some big news today, disclosing that it has landed an exclusive deal with Japanese game developer Capcom to bring Street Fighter IV to the Android platform.

The popular game will be listed on LG’s global apps site in the fourth quarter of this year, and as one of the most popular game franchises in history, Street Fighter will bring some excitement and name recognition to LG phones for consumers.

The company’s CEO, Dr. Jong-seok Park, elaborated on the importance of offering HD content to its customers:

As we prepare our first HD smartphone for launch, it was important for us to be able to offer HD content that would really demonstrate this phone’s benefits. The HD version of Street Fighter certainly fills this objective. We are also confident that LG’s soon-to-be-unveiled HD display technology will give Street Fighter fans a whole new reason to play the game again.

Street Fighter featured prominently at the Tokyo Game Show this past weekend, most notably with Street Fighter x Tekken. And if you’re a fan of our Facebook page, you probably noticed that there was no shortage of pretty ladies promoting Capcom’s wares at TGS as well.

As we wrote here a few weeks back, Capcom is well aware that its future success depends heavily on its business overseas.

And to that end, smartphones are the perhaps the easiest way to extend its reach across the globe. This partnership with LG is a promising step in that direction.

Capcom's Monster Hunter booth, TGS 2010

Thanks to the folks over at Gamasutra for pointing out this interesting note from Capcom emphasizing that its future business success depends heavily upon finding good partners outside of Japan. The statement was posted to its investor relations website. Here are a few notable excerpts:

Capcom must increase sales in the Consumer Online Games Business outside Japan, where the market for these games is larger and there is much more growth potential, in order to maintain growth. Acquisitions and partnerships are one of the important strategies for increasing our market share overseas.

However, a merger with a large Japanese game or toy manufacturer is not being considered as a serious option since it would not make a significant contribution to growth in our overseas sales.

In terms of recent acquisitions, the company did acquire Canada’s Blue Castle Games last year, who has been working on the Dead Rising series.

As for other activities, Capcom’s made a commitment to the social gaming space earlier in the year by establishing its Beeline subsidiary. The company recently stated that it is “working hard on Beeline-brand social games for overseas markets.”

Capcom will be in attendance at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show, so we’re looking forward to talking with them about overseas ambitions. As far as Japanese gaming companies go, Capcom isn’t the only one with eyes set abroad.

Capcom sales by region, 2000-2010 (millions of yen)

[Data: Capcom]

That announcement triggered speculation that the company would further explore the smartphone market, expanding into Android and iOS gaming. Nintendo’s stock rose by nearly 5 percent according to Bloomberg. But soon after, spokesperson Yasuhiro Minagawa grounded all that talk by explaining that the company’s plan to develop for only its own hardware “hasn’t changed and won’t change.”

I’m not sure why Nintendo would want to strap themselves in to its current platforms when porting its current games to new ones would likely require relatively little additional effort. While the company is still doing relatively well, it should keep in mind what happened to its old rival Sega a decade ago, as it shifted operations to become a third-party software publisher.

It’s not only smartphones that Nintendo may be overlooking, but social gaming ought to be an option as well, as both Sega and Capcom have made forays into that space. If the success of GREE and DeNA are any indication, social and mobile are not platforms you want to ignore, especially in Japan.

The Monster Hunter series has been wildly popular in Japan with 16 titles selling over 18 million units. And this new title is off to a great start, as it is already the top paid app listed in the Japan app store.

With this new iPhone game, Capcom aspires to bring that success worldwide via Apple’s app store. The game is priced at 800 yen in Japan and at US$4.99 for American users. Here’s Capcom’s video promotion for the new Monster Hunter iPhone game, including a pretty good overview of the game controls:

Capcom Press Release:

The company’s new Facebook game, Jollywood, was created by the company’s Singapore studio. It’s a pretty remedial game with lots of puppy dogs and bunny rabbits and trees and such (Hint: it’s no Tecmo Bowl!)

The company hopes that it can take advantage of not only social platforms like Facebook, but mobile as well. Tecmo Koei’s senior executive director Shintaro Kobayashi explained “We want to expand our footprint globally through social games, particularly into the casual gamers markets.”

Tecmo Koei follows other long-time developers like Sega and Capcom who are making inroads into social. If GREE and DeNA are any indication, there’s certainly opportunity in that space.

Tecmo Koei

Capcom says that it has experienced great success with its social games to date, claiming more than 15 million downloads for “Smurfs’ Village,” “Zombie Cafe,” and “Lil’ Pirates.”

Capcom intends to develop for North American, Europe, and Japan . The company stated in its announcement that the gaming market has changed drastically in recent years, with people enjoying games on new platforms in addition to traditional gaming consoles. A representative with the company had stated last month that Capcom Japan would be shaking things up a little, the past few days have definitely been reflective of that intent.

Capcom’s fellow gaming stallworth Sega recently announced its intention to get into social gaming recently as well. Interestingly, Sega is also devoting a sub-brand of its company, Sega Play, to the endeavor.

[Via andriasang.com]