Potential media 'smear campaign' concerns Capcom

NewsPublish Date 12/09/2008 - 11:14am GMT+1

Risk its upcoming violent games might get banned in some territories, annual report reveals.

Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop screenshot

Capcom is concerned that the media might get on its back over the violence in some of its upcoming games, and that some of them might even get banned.

Buried deep within its 2008 annual report is a note identifying some of the potential risks its home video game publishing business might face.

There are 10 risks detailed there, including increased development costs, its dependency on its popular series' and the second hand game market, but we thought its concern that the violence in its games might lead to local authorities banning them was of most interest.

In the list Capcom says: "Some of our popular software titles have provocative graphics and text, such as violent and grotesque scenes. Accordingly, in the event of violent incidents and other criminal cases involving juveniles, we may be subject to a smear campaign by some sections of the mass media which often point out the correlation between crime and games."

We imagine Capcom is referring to the upcoming release of the sure to be brilliant Resident Evil 5, which is guaranteed to feature generous amounts of gore, and possibly zombie killer Dead Rising on the family-friendly Wii.

Capcom adds: "Therefore, there is a risk that it may result in having an adverse effect on our business performance, corporate value and narrowed distribution channel under instructions by the relevant authorities."

Do you think Capcom's games will be banned? Let us know in the comments section below.

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User Comments

Matt

Hey Ray, just so you know the right hasn't been great on censorship either, from what I remember john mccain was right along with clinton on video game censorship and the religious right tends to be pretty annoying about obscene stuff too (though they care more about sex than violence). Just saying neither party is really very good on it.

Posted 09:36 on 18 September 2008

Ray

i certainly hope not, but you never know these days with the fascists in the media and on the political left. The west is getting to the point were the individual can no longer make choices for themselves. The left in America and Europe believe the Government knows best and should bann anything and everything that might offend some one. Perfect example was the non-controversy that came about when Resident Evil 5s 1st tralier appeared about it "inspiring race hate" these people are getting out of control with their PC bulls**t and need to be contained. People who value freedom and want government out of our lives need to get involved and help move the culture back towards a freedom loving one and NOT a Solicialist, Government Contolrs everything one.

Posted 20:12 on 12 September 2008

FantasyMeister

I thought the second hand game market was a more interesting risk, maybe Capcom are thinking about DRM, one activation per console kinda thing which would prevent games then being sold onwards.

As for games being banned, I think Australia will probably be their toughest censor. It'll be interesting to see how the Wii audience takes to the likes of Dead Rising, there are a couple of other very violent games in the making for the Wii like No More Heroes (already out) and Madworld (release TBA) so it's definitely trying to break free of its 'family-friendly' description.

Posted 11:40 on 12 September 2008