Capcom Has a Plan for When Resident Evil Remakes Catch Up to the New Games: 'We Have Been Gradually Preparing'

Capcom has a strategy in place for when its Resident Evil remakes eventually catch up with the newer entries in the series, and the company views Resident Evil 7 as a "turning point."

That's according to Jun Takeuchi, a Capcom veteran who has served as executive producer for the series over the past decade. He acknowledged that Capcom's highly successful remakes are slowly running out of classic games to re-release. The publisher has already remade Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4 to great acclaim, with a new version of Code Veronica set for next year.

It has previously been reported that a Resident Evil 0 remake will follow in 2028, and that a Resident Evil 1 remake has also been considered. Of the mainline Resident Evil games, this would then leave only Resident Evil 5 and 6 as the remaining titles to get new versions — both of which would be intriguing prospects for different reasons.

While Capcom likely has enough remakes to keep releases going for another decade, there will come a point when the publisher must decide whether to remake other titles, start remaking its remakes all over again, or do something else entirely, Takeuchi teased.

"The current Resident Evil series is being developed along two tracks," Takeuchi noted in the recently released Biohazard 30th anniversary special magazine book now available in Japan (thanks, RENews_X, via The Gamer).

"Someday, the remake series will catch up with the era of the numbered titles, and we are already thinking about what we will do when that happens," he continued. "In fact, we have been gradually preparing for that since around Resident Evil Village. The appearance of names such as Umbrella and Spencer, as well as the return of Raccoon City in Requiem, are also in preparation for a 'crossover'.

"At first, we included these elements with the sense that they were fan service, but users were far more delighted by them than we had imagined, and they even began analysing the thoughts that the development team had privately kept to itself. So, as a series, we decided to respond to users' expectations and pushed this setup further in Village and Requiem."

Takeuchi went on to state that Capcom regarded Resident Evil 7 "as a turning point for the series" as it was in development when its plans to start remaking older games really came to fruition. Does this mean that everything before 7 is set to be remade one day, while 7 and onwards is considered too new?

Resident Evil 5 sold hugely well, with particular interest in the game in the wake of the top-rated Resident Evil 4. (Sadly, 5 was nowhere near as good.) But any new version of the game would see Capcom returning to the controversy over 5's African setting and companion character Sheva. As for Resident Evil 6, which featured a range of protagonists, it just isn't very good. But perhaps Capcom could salvage it in an eventual new version?

What's more interesting here is Capcom's suggestion that it is using its remakes to seed ideas it will pick up again in newer titles, when that "crossover" point eventually happens. After all, Resident Evil has now been going for 30 years, which is a long time for anyone to remember plot details without being able to revisit early entries.

For now, though, all of that is a long time off — and there's plenty to look forward to. The promising-looking Resident Evil Veronica is next on the docket, and we've already asked Capcom some of our burning questions...