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Capcom Exec: PSN Outage Costing Us "Hundreds of Thousands"

by Harry Monogenis, posted on 10 May 2011 / 1,947 Views

A lot of people have been affected by the fact that the PlayStation Network is down. Users are upset that they won't be able to get their multiplayer fix, and developers who make games for the PlayStation Network --selling them on the PlayStation Store-- are also, understandably, annoyed at what's going on -- you know, with nobody able to sign in and buy their games.

Capcom is one of these developers, and according to its Senior Vice President Christian Svensson it's costing them "hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars in revenue."

On Capcom Unity, a forum user asked Svensson on the site's "Ask Capcom" section and got a rather surprising response:

I'm frustrated and upset by it for a number of reasons.

 

As a consumer, I also play games online on PS3, which I can't do... and likely my personal information is also compromised. Secondly I like to buy things in the PlayStation store and that I can't do right now. 

 

On a related note, as an executive responsible for running a business, the resulting outage obviously costing us hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars in revenue that were planned for within our budget. These are funds we rely on to bring new games to market for our fans.

 

In short, the hackers appear to be trying to "punish" Sony for some perceived injustice, and they've been effective in that I suppose. But they're also punishing millions of other consumers and businesses which makes it impossible to be sympathetic to their "cause".

A few posts later, he went on to clarify the above, stating that he's not angry with Sony.

 

To clarify a few earlier points, my frustration is not with Sony (who has been open with us regarding the situation, at least as much as they can be), but with the hackers who perpetrated this act.

 

Sony is the victim here and unfortunately consumers, developers and publisher are all affected. I'm hoping and optimistic that things will get back online soon.


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11 Comments

cloud1161
cloud1161 (on 10 May 2011)

yes, it is this one defining moment costing you thousands of dollars, not the fact that you slowly degenerate each of your huge franchises to a point where even the most loyal fans dont want to even look at them, but you are right, its because of the sony security breach no-one buys your games anymore. idiots.

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DonFerrari
DonFerrari (on 10 May 2011)

@irstupid: Maybe it's good for MS and Ninty... And about vacation, in Brazil you have paid vacation with a 30% bonus... so in the month you don't work you get 1,3x your salary... and with 13° salary in the end of year sometimes you get 2,3 salaries (the problem is that most of it you use to pay new year debts, tax and fees)

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irstupid
irstupid (on 10 May 2011)

well a game being unplayable doesn't help its sellability but ha at the person saying this shouldn't affect capcom at all and to not feel sorry for them. don't know how that guy is 31 years old. its simple. its just like going on vacation. there are two things to look at when you look at vacation costs. how much it costs to go on vaction, food, travel, lodging, entertainment, ect. AND THEN also how much money you would NOT be making by no working. If you make 1,000 in a week of work and your vacation cost you 1,000. the vacation actually cost you 2,000. thats what this is. capcom is not making any money in psn sales obviously. and they are still acquiring expenses payign employees during this time. Or if you want to say, they have thier employees not work. Well then. that is human people that are out of a job and making zero money during this psn. in no way is psn being down good for ANY business that deals with psn.

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DonFerrari
DonFerrari (on 10 May 2011)

@KylieDog: The game being unplayable wouldn't harm them as much as being unsaleable

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KylieDog
KylieDog (on 10 May 2011)

Of course the twist is that Capcom uses DRM on some of their DLC games that means they will not be playable while PSN is offline. Some DLC for MvC3 will not work without a PSN connection despite being offline DLC too.

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Nintendology
Nintendology (on 10 May 2011)

@yo_john117 Easily. Lost revenue on DLC from MvC3. Lost revenue from the sale of games like Mega Man 9 and Mega Man 10. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 HD was building up a solid community on PSN and Live, and now they can only sell to half of the community. I'd say hundreds of thousands is more accurate. I doubt millions, but they are no doubt losing money.

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yo_john117
yo_john117 (on 10 May 2011)

how could psn being out for less then a month cost capcom THAT much money??

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Iveyboi
Iveyboi (on 10 May 2011)

@llewdebkram: You evidently have no appreciation for capitalism. Capcom has staff to pay, and the opportunity cost of the lost revenues. I thought that the exec was mature with his response and this is understandable

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DonFerrari
DonFerrari (on 10 May 2011)

@llewdebkram: It's costing because they have a struture that depends on profits from PSN (also employees that are exclusive for services on PSN probably)... so they keep the cost and don't keep the revenue during this time... So money that isn't gained can be considered lost.

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DollarsAndSense
DollarsAndSense (on 10 May 2011)

Oh, let me taste your tears, Christian Svensson . Mmm yummy!

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llewdebkram
llewdebkram (on 10 May 2011)

It's not costing them anything. It's just causing them not to make as much profit the poor things! Many disruptions which are out of our control happen in daily life to us all. There are people with no clothes and no food living next to sewers so shut up and think yourself lucky Capcom.

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