The plans for the release of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 less than a year after the release of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 left some scratching their head. However, Capcom’s Seth Killian says the timing of the release is a byproduct of forces not entirely in Capcom’s control.

“We have the license for this specific game, but other companies outside of Capcom have licenses for other Marvel games that impinge,” said Capcom’s Seth Killian. “So we have to find specific times where we’re able to release products. It’s on the Capcom side and on the Marvel side.”

“I don’t ask anybody to feel sympathetic about that,” Killian added. “These kinds of corporate realities and legal contracts and things like that shape all of our lives whether we like it or realize it or not.”

More odd is the revelation that the content would not be available as DLC, which is a byproduct of the Japanese market. “Japan is still very much not a DLC market,” explained Killian. “DLC sales in general in Japan are vastly lower than they are here, even with popular games. DLC is not as much of a going concern. And online gaming in general is a lower adoption rate. The percentage of people playing any given title online in Japan is much lower.”

“Capcom has had different schools of thought internally. You’ve seen on the Street Fighter front has been a little more on the DLC side. But even on the Arcade Edition there was a balance there where they did do a disc release but they also made it available as DLC,” he added. “Capcom obviously has strong roots in the disc based tradition. That’s the way most games are sold in Japan, so this is the way to approach it naturally. Clearly they’re active in a global market, but are putting their toes in the water of shifting tastes for consumers in other places. Having just an all DLC release would be considered a strange move in Japan. Having an all DLC release would be odd.”

“The Marvel team had slightly different ideas than the Street Fighter team, so they’re always going in different directions. But it’s a piece of feedback from the Western side at least we’ve been very clear about, saying there’s a lot of talk saying we would like to have this as a DLC option rather than a disc based release,” he noted. “Of course there are people here who still like the disc based release, collectors and people who just appreciate the disc who are worried if they’re not able to go online then the game won’t work. There’s some from both camps. It’s a developing process for Capcom.”

Source: Eurogamer