Street Fighter X Tekken sales blamed on 'cannibalism'

Street Fighter X Tekken didn't perform up to Capcom's expectations, and the publisher thinks a glut of recent fighting game releases is to blame. In a postearnings Q&A session posted to the publisher's investor relations site today, Capcom addressed the game's worldwide sales of 1.4 million.

"Sales of Street Fighter X Tekken have fallen short of our plan," the company's statement confirmed. "We believe one of [the] causes is cannibalism because of the large number of other games in this genre that were launched within a short time."

Since the beginning of 2011, Capcom has released a range of fighters, including Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition, and Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition. The same time frame has also seen a number of fighting games launched by other publishers, including Mortal Kombat, SoulCalibur V, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend, and King of Fighters XIII.

The publisher also addressed Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City shipping 2 million units as a vindication of its business plan. "This shows the success of our decision to try the new approach of using an alliance with an overseas development company," the company said.