It has been five years since the release of the last Mega Man game. Capcom, the developer of the franchise, is taking its time to come up with new concepts for the long-running video game series - the company is considering "how to approach" the future of the series.
Capcom has released only three mainline titles in the Mega Man series since 2008's Mega Man 9. The studio followed the game up with Mega Man 10 in 2010 and its most recent title, Mega Man 11, was released in 2018. The game developer has been reduced to releasing compilations of older titles in recent years.
In its latest annual shareholders meeting, Capcom was asked by a shareholder about its plans for the Mega Man series moving forward. The shareholder pointed out that the latest Mega Man retro collection sold over 1 million copies suggesting a strong interest in the series and a good avenue for "user expansion".
"Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection was released in April and has surpassed 1 million units in sales, contributing to existing IP utilization and user expansion. What are your plans for the Mega Man series?" the shareholder asked.
"Including Mega Man 11, the latest entry in the franchise, Mega Man is one of Capcom's historic IPs and is loved by fans, and as such we want to take care in how we develop the series," Capcom replied. "We are considering how to approach the production of new entries in the series, which requires numerous factors, including the development of a solid concept, ideas and gameplay, etc."