Almost one year ago, Capcom found itself at war with its fans when it cancelled Mega Man Legends 3 despite much demand. In fact, many would argue that the company itself was the first to fire shots when it blamed the fans for the cancellation, despite the fact that these same people were actively helping with development. When pressed on the issue, asking what more they could have done besides make the game for them, this is how Capcom famously replied via its Euro Twitter account:
As it turns out, there were plenty of developers outside of Capcom who were willing to continue with the making of the now infamous title, including CyberConnect and Mega Man father Kenji Inafune, with no response. In what would be later slaps in the face to fans of the Blue Bomber, Capcom even neglected to put Mega Man X in the re-release of Marvel vs Capcom 3, once again citing a lack of fan demand despite X leading all of the published fan polls, ahead of many of the characters who actually made the cut.
Obviously, fans weren’t happy, but there was one group who decided to do something about it. Taking a cue from fan movements such as Operation Rainfall, a Facebook movement titled 100,000 Strong for Bringing Back Mega Man Legends 3 emerged, quickly amassing tens of thousands of members to prove to Capcom that the game does have an audience, and at the very least, all these fans want is the Prototype version, a glorified paid demo that was designed to gague interest in the first place.
Well, it finally happened. A few weeks ago, the group hit their goal and as of this writing, have surpassed it with about 107,000 fans asking for the game they were promised. Gamers are still joining the Dev Room to prove that they will continue to participate. So now the ball is in Capcom’s court. Aside from Mega Man, the company that used to be known for pleasing fans by porting over risky titles in the West like Phoenix Wright, has done nothing to discourage their rage, especially after milking fans for finished content and charging extra money to download the ending to their games. Frankly, with their reputation sinking in the eyes of many gamers, now couldn’t be a more oppritune time to listen to the them.
The solution? Announce Mega Man Legends 3 at E3.
At this point, what choice do they have? Why not throw in Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright and MAYBE Ace Attorney Investigations 2 for good measure? I mean, look at it this way. Operation Rainfall, the community that banded together and demanded that Nintendo bring three titles to the North American Wii market, got their wishes answered when Xenoblade was released in April and The Last Story was announced for a summer release. Honestly, I’ll be shocked if Pandora’s Tower, the third title of this holy trinity, isn’t playable on the show floor.
Point being, if Nintendo can release three titles after receiving requests from a group of about 12,000, (which isn’t bad by any stretch of the imagination,) it would be the ultimate in dickish moves for Capcom to ignore almost ten times the amount of people asking for the release of just ONE game. Hell, we’ll be happy with the Prototype which was supposed to have been finished already.
Since this series of controversies hit what was once one of my favorite developers, Capcom has all but lost me as a customer, and I know I’m not alone. E3 will be a turning point for the company and I’ll be eagerly anticiapting what they have to announce. Because going forward, this will shape the perception of a company that once prided itself on accepting fan interaction and feedback, but since then has backhanded us with broken promises, nickel and dime business practices and alienating those who are lining their pockets. So Capcom, do the right thing. Release Mega Man Legends 3. Because there are 100,000 people who want it… and many of which like myself will be done with you if we don’t get it.