Back in March, Ono san was rushed to the hospital, due to “overworking” himslef, or at least that what Capcom told us. Few months later, Ono san detailed his account on what happened on that day. Today we bring you more shpcking reveals from the the famous, and loved, EX-Street Fighter producer who revealed, to Eurogamer, more about the conditions and working environment at Capcom:
Ono san: ”Capcom doesn’t allow a trade union or any sort of worker movement you see,”…”So if I complain I will probably get sacked. You have to say it for me, OK? I want you to write: ‘Capcom overworks Ono’. That’s your headline.
After I passed out, I was thinking in the hospital: there are so many people at Capcom that, over the years, have disappeared at one time or another. Suddenly, in that bed I understood what happened to them… The day after a game is finished and goes off to manufacture there are 10 empty desks, their previous occupants never to be seen again.”
You can read the rest of the interview here
To make things worse, an anonymous Capcom Japan employee posted the below information about the work conditions inside the company. (Click to enlarge)
If the above account is true, then Capcom is really worse than their fictional Umbrella Corporation (from the resident evil series) and need to be penalized, or worse, for treating employees in such ways. Some fans are already calling to boycott Capcom games.
What d you folks think ? Do you believe the second account from the anonymous employee ? And if so what needs to happen to Capcom for treating people in such manners ?
9 comments
Greedy McNasty
June 15, 2012 at 1:05 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I find it really hard to comment on this. I don’t want Ono to leave the company, however scale form will still be around to help CAPCOM make the next fighting games. Ono has such passion for the games he works on.
What is crazy is this is nothing new in the world of CAPCOM. Look at how worn out and tired all employee’s of CAPCOM are. Seth Killian is always hammerfisting 5 hours into his mouth to stay awake, as well as the Japanese community manager that was giving out info around the release of ssf4. She always talked of being tired and over worked.
I guess I am just greedy, I want the fighting games, I want them now. Maybe I am part of the problem? I would rather not get a fighting game for two years, have the employee’s not work themselves to death and have a solid well tested, balanced game.
Well here is one way of looking at this. If Ono leaves…..he could start his own company bring a bunch of his friends over to the company, make a new fighter…….hire scale form …….dimps…..udon……and make a fighting game that make Street Fighter look bad..????? Don’t say it couldn’t happen.
4D
June 15, 2012 at 5:41 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Many months ago, I commented here, for first and unique time, that capcom is shitting on people and abusing of the talent of Mr. Yoshinori Ono. … Well …
Mr. Ono and other talented people could develop a new road, in a democratic little studio/company, provided the respect and camaraderie among other conditions prevail and promote high growth and fellowship with people who consume their products.
And Capcom has long, have lost its own legacy. In fact , they has no soul.
yuuu
June 15, 2012 at 11:57 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Come on, Ono. Move to Platinum. Do to Street Fighter what they already did to Devil May Cry. Make the superior game from a company composed largely of former Capcom employees. DO IT.
Vice_Mature
June 16, 2012 at 3:42 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Yes, employees could leave and start their own company. The problem is where are they going to get funding to start from scratch? You’d also need a whole team passionately dedicated to what they will “rebuild”; a group of people who already have new ideas on how to create the next “household name”. It’s a big gamble, and the company, even if their games are marketed as “from the producers/creators of xx game or yy franchise”, it will be quite difficult for them to get very far. I’m not saying it cannot be done, but you’d need a very dedicated group of individuals, one that will persist even if their first few games become commercial failures. Take their dependents into account, and it becomes a huge convoluted moral and economic dilemma on the workers’ part.
But again, not saying it cannot be done. Take Mistwalker- they’ve been able to produce some semi-successful games and have found some support in Nintendo.
I blame these huge corporate money-making douchewads. It saddens me to hear they won’t even let them organize union drives or anything of the sort. But maybe Ono is trying to tell us something.
“That wasn’t really down to me pestering my superiors so much as all of the journalists and fans started making a lot of noise and pressuring Capcom. This was a strategic plot on my part. I had been asking all the journalists to make noise about the series when out and about. I would always tell them that it was their responsibility to tell Capcom, not me as I don’t have the power. Journalists and fans have the power to move Capcom – not producers. With so many voices crying out for a Street Fighter game Capcom could no longer ignore it any more and so they gave the green light for a prototype and they asked me to create it. It’s a miracle that happened after a decade…”
Instead of encouraging Ono (and other people like him, if the accounts are true) to leave the company and start anew, perhaps we as fans need to stand up and organize petitions to hold Capcom more accountable in the treatment of their employees.
If we can whine and whinge and make a SF revival happen, maybe we can do something about it as fans. To get out of our gaming bubbles and make the working conditions for Capcom employees better.
Bot Marley
June 16, 2012 at 4:58 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Kenji Inafune (drops the mic and walks off stage)
Emu
June 17, 2012 at 10:16 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Ono should start a kickstarter for a new gaming company! Even if it’s a $20 indie game, I would love to support him and other employees that want a better work environment.
Pitfall
June 18, 2012 at 2:07 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Most Japanese companies overwork their employees, it’s not unusual. But I do think the way Capcom treated Ono’s collapse was insensitive and uncaring.
Wilerson
June 19, 2012 at 2:10 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
And now Seth Killian announces he’s leaving Capcom: http://www.joystiq.com/2012/06/19/capcoms-main-street-fighter-seth-killian-exiting-the-company-on/
Greedy McNasty
June 19, 2012 at 4:59 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
You just beat me to the punch. People come and go, however I liked Seth. He was cool every time I ever met him. Good guy in real life, great guy for fighting game community. He will be missed, so will Ono when he leaves.