Capcom Not Taking Sides In SOPA Debate

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Earlier this week, Capcom came under fire for its perceived support of the Stop Online Piracy Act. When questioned about whether or not Capcom would come out in support of SOPA, an Capcom spokeswoman simply said “The ESA represents us on these matters.” Since the ESA is one of SOPA’s biggest sponsors, Capcom’s response seemed to imply that the publisher stands behind the bill.

Naturally, this attracted a lot of vitriol from Capcom fans that don’t approve of SOPA, and the blow back has been so enormously bad that Capcom VP Christian Svensson had to take to the Capcom-Unity forums to clear a few things up. It took Svensson nine pages to show up in a thread titled “Why Capcom usa support Sopa and Ip protection?” and when he did, he didn’t offer a clear stance on SOPA one way or the other:

Guys, a few points:

1. We are members of the ESA (along side pretty much every other major publisher in our industry).

2. We’ve only ever stated that the ESA represents us in legislative matters (again, like every other publisher). We have not stated any stance on our support (or not) for SOPA. Inferring more than that is bad journalism (which seems to be rampant based upon the rereporting of a six word response to inquiry).

Svensson went onto reassure fans that if SOPA is passed, Capcom will still allow gamers to stream their fighting games on sites like YouTube, and proceeded to quote a statement made by the ESA last week. After stressing the fact that the ESA thinks there’s some lingering issues with SOPA, Svensson said something that will likely be taken as a kick in the pants to many of the Capcom faithful:

At Capcom, we’re game makers, not legislators. We do not have an internal stance on this particular issue and are not planning to. We’ll get back to making games. Thanks.

Be that as it may, many people who buy Capcom’s games on a regular basis are expecting Capcom to take a firm stance on the issue, regardless of if the company is for or against it. To hide behind the ESA and then say “We do not have an internal stance on this particular issue and are not planning to,” when confronted about Capcom’s lack of consideration is simply pussyfooting around a very serious debate. The best part? The thread was locked immediately after Svensson commented, meaning those fans that have legitimate questions for Capcom and Svensson didn’t get to ask them (or, perhaps more importantly, hold Capcom accountable).

What do you think? Should Capcom issue a statement about SOPA since its a member of the ESA, or should Capcom be exempt from commenting on whether or not it backs the bill? Head down to the comments section to sound off and keep it tuned right here to TFTS – we’ll have more information on SOPA as it develops!