"Out of all of the third-party companies making use of the digital space, [Sony] recognizes Capcom is one of the best partners for content," said John Diamonon, product manager on all Capcom digital titles.
He said that Sony approached Capcom with the idea. "We're supporting PlayStation Network like no other company," Diamonon claimed.
Capcom expects the store to launch in early November. Diamonon acknowledged that other publishers will offer dedicated storefronts in the future.
Capcom recently released well-received digital offerings across online storefronts on Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii. The old school Mega Man 9 launched with much hardcore fanfare in late September, and prior to that the high-def remake Bionic Commando: Rearmed made waves on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Christian Svensson, VP of business development and strategic planning for Capcom said the company has found online to be a prime venue for "fan-focused" content that "would never survive at retail."
Svensson continued, "...Sony's taking advantage of--in a very real way--one of the benefits of digital, in that there are multiple ways to sort, search and put things in front of people. In a physical store, that physical object can only exist in one physical space.
"With digital, that object can be highlighted in about 20 different ways. I think Sony is first to recognize that. The more opportunities that someone has a chance to see or be exposed to our content ... the more likely it is that someone will give a Capcom title a shot."
He continued, "[Online's] also really good for noodling features and figuring out what people want, which bring ramifications for our bigger online titles."
Diamonon added that Capcom is trying to establish a "digital brand" that gamers will associate with quality, and a dedicated storefront is one way of getting products in front of consumers.
PlayStation Network is by no means the only digital storefront on consoles. But Svensson said Xbox Live Marketplace isn't as conducive to a dedicated store.
"As far as Microsoft goes--how can I say this dimplomatically--there are things I think they'd like to do to promote content in multiple ways, and I think they'll get there eventually... but they're not there yet."
The execs noted how the New Xbox Live Experience is likely the Microsoft's first priority on the digital front, and will pave the way for Capcom-branded pages.
With PlayStation Home, Sony is expanding upon the menu-based interface. Could we see a 3D Capcom store in Home? Diamonon said, "I don't know if I can talk about anything on that side yet, but I suppose it's theoretically possible."
Capcom agreed that today, digital distribution is only a small part of its business, but it's growing rapidly, and the company would prefer to be on the forefront.
When asked if full-on digital commerce is as far in the future as retail giant GameStop expects (i.e., a very, very, long time from now), Svensson replied, "I think GameStop has a vested interest in downplaying that impact [of digital distribution]. And we obviously have a vested interest in making it a larger part of our business as we move forward."
Capcom's PC digital distribution plans
"We're adding the PC as the third leg of our digital distribution stool," Svensson stated. "You'll see our breadth of partners on the PC digital distribution side will be as large as pretty much any other publisher. We've spent almost a year building those relationships and more are being added all the time."
He said Capcom will have announcements about the company's PC digital distribution partners around the first week of November. "It's a lot of people."
Svensson admitted that revenues from PC digital distribution are currently less than consoles, but Capcom has found the ubiquitous platform worthy of attention.
"It takes a lot more partners to get to that level [of console revenues]. But we're thinking PC's a longer-lived platform in the long term, and there are more ways to monetize content on PC besides digital sales."