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In order to reach a broader market and make more money, Capcom said it needs the Resident Evil series to evolve from its survival-horror roots.
Speaking in an interview with Gamasutra, Resident Evil: Revelations producer Masachika Kawata said a survival-horror focused title wouldn't be a smart business decision nowadays.
"Especially for the North American market, I think the series needs to head in that [action-oriented] direction," Kawata told the website. "[Resident Evil's primary games] need to be an extension of the changes made in Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5.
"RE4 started in that direction, and RE5 kept going in that direction," he said. "And I think that especially for the North American market, we need to keep going in that direction, and take that a step further. And that's exactly one of the reasons that Revelations is the way it is," he said.
Kawata is not involved with the development of Resident Evil 6, but said he doesn't think the game needs to move all the way towards action gameplay.
"Looking at the marketing data [for survival horror games] ... the market is small, compared to the number of units Call of Duty and all those action games sell," he said. "A 'survival horror' Resident Evil doesn't seem like it'd be able to sell those kind of numbers."
He added, "I can't really speak for Resident Evil 6, but I don't think that it necessarily has to go all the way in that [action-heavy] direction, the Call of Duty direction. It doesn't have to be a straight up shooter. But my impression is that Resident Evil 4 and 5 aren't shooters, per se."
Kawata said there might still be room for survival-horror through more Resident Evil spin-off titles, however. "So we have our numbered series, and we can say we have a more adventure-oriented version, like a Revelations-style game. And we also have Operation: Raccoon City, which is a third-person shooter," he said.
"So I think that by extending the market in this sense, we can still have the numbered titles keep their identity about what Resident Evil is supposed to be, but still expand and hit other markets as well."
[Source: Gamasutra]
I love resident evil, but they should NEVER, EVER, EVER, stray away from their survival horror roots! I have to hand it to Silent Hill and Dead Space to sticking to their guns. I enjoy all those games for what they are and I am from North America. There both successful survival horror games here Capcom! The survival horror genre will never go! Resident Evil, your missing your opportunity!!!
The problem wasn't that they need to break from their roots. The problem (for me anyways) was that they were already stretching from their roots already. What brought me into Resident Evil in the first place was the basic components of the first games. Zombies, Raccoon City, etc. When they got rid of the T-Virus it ruined it for me, and I think some other people too. I'm glad they're starting to return to the T-Virus, I wish they didn't have to break from the survival horror genre to try to attract a new market.
Between this and their DLC issues, I'm done with this company.
Exactly what Dragon age2 did, now the are asking customers what they did wrong and getting back to their roots.
I think this direction could easily lead to other mechanics and gameplay that has remained largely unexplored in the current gaming market. Plus Resident Evil started this trend around the fourth installment with it's 'Action Cinematics' and for it's large boss battles... which never did quiet feel right with the mechanics they had used. The large boss fights felt more like spending time at a moving taget range, and large horde encounters felt scripted as there was only a limited way to kill your targets.
But this article does shows a disheartening side of the gaming industry, doing what everyone else is doing. I expected more.
i already preorder this game. im gonna be mad if they screw it up. If i wanted a fps i would play cod or halo. I have played every game in the numbered series and i think it has evolved perfectly. don't screw it up now
i've preorder it to! let's see what they do when November 20 hits! :P!
I would LOOOOOOOOVE for their to be another Resident Evil 4 quality game, but that's not going to happen if they go for even more action. And the reason survival horror games aren't selling well? Because all the survival horror games being being made are terrible! (Dead Space is the exception) I was disappointed enough with RE5, with the *** AI for Sheva wasting all my ammo, limited inventory, and overall none scariness. I refuse to ever buy another Resident Evil game if they make it more action instead of survival horror. The market doesn't need more action games.
Thats stupid. Every time a series goes more action heavy, it ruins the franchise. It seems to me RE has been more action heavy with every new title anyway, which is exactly why i lost interest. Theres a million shooters out there, try something different
I just purchased RE:ORC and so far it is not what I was hoping for. I generally don't listen to the reviews of Mags, but other players and then wait for it to drop in price (not a lot of games worth 60 bucks). If the AI were a little more intelligent/did their job so I didn't keep dieing while trying to save them in many scenarios that would have helped. Ive played BF3 and CoD (BF2 was better, LARGE scale BATTLEFIELD). It seems everyone is going to the run and gun shoot everything with the "look at my K/D ratio". Capcon could have made the game true to its roots and added the online version for the K/D crowd. After the first three gradings in NORMAL mode I received a C,A,A. Not sure how that was calculated but in RE1 it would have been more like C's or maybe B's. I think that if they want to bring in the K/D crowd Capcon should have made it like "World War Z" and as a stand alone game. CoD has a zombie mode and I know guys that bought and play it just for that. If you want a creep show try playing the "Suffering" just dont run out of batteries or flares. Games have come a long way, I remember when PONG was on my TV.
silly asians. if i wanna buy an action game ill buy call of duty not resident evil. resident evil shines as a survival horror, just ask the developers of dead space how well the market is for a survival horror.
So dies the survival horror genre I fear. I'm guessing Capcom are having a fantastic time with it at the moment...
I don't see why they don't attempt to push the survival horror genre forward considering that they helped make the genre what it is today. Not to mention it's a smaller genre to begin with. Japan just sees dollar signs at this point and they just want get into the NA market anyway they can because there is potential to make tons of money. I grew up with RE but ive only liked the numbered entries (and Code Veronica). Although I didn't care for 5. Obviously 4 is the best of the entire series because it innovated and kept a perfect balance of survival horror and action. I will be watching 6 closley but I have to say, it doesn't look that much like an RE title.
There will, as noted, always be room in the gaming space for good survival horror titles (such as the two major Dead Space games). But the RE/Biohazard games cannot remain solely in that space, as Kawata points out. Not just for variety's sake, but the simple fact that the major players (Chris, Leon, et cetera) have, as they saying goes, smelled the smoke and seen the elephant, so the 'fear factor' could be argued to be a bit less.
Whatever criticisms might be validly pointed at how ORC's mechanics were executed, the concept in my opinion made complete sense - just look at how the Opposing Force and Blue Shift expansions fleshed out the first Half-Life.
To examine a famous movie parallel: _Alien_ is a classic 'survival horror'-type movie; I don't recall anyone complaining about the sequel's more action-oriented take. Or that it lost any of the tension and atmosphere that works so well at keeping the viewers riveted. _Alien^3_, on the other tendril... it's probably better we pretend it never happened.
Oh ok so I will just stop buying RE games then its supposed to be survival horror not action. If I want an action zombie game I would get Dead Rising or left 4 dead
Action Adventure and Resident Evil is like water to oil lol,don't you dare touch what i have left to look forward for in the Horror and get away from it all Resident Evil...
My thought on this is that RE6 is going to be a real test for many fans. I remember playing RE5 and never feeling scared for a second, and the action gameplay wasn't up to par either with games such as Dead Space. So for me, it was a lose/lose. If i wanted to survival horror game that played well, i went to dead space, not RE. If they can't pull of both like dead space has, than i feel they might reach a broader audience by sticking to the core survival horror elements, and pleasing the existing RE fans who are clamoring for some good old fashioned frights.
So, these so called Resident Evil 'fans' and the above article want Resident Evil to be more 'Action-y'...um hello? WHAT Genre is Resident Evil...? Oh yeah! SURVIVAL HORROR! It's bad enough when the company that created the damn series is transforming it into a action/adventure, but when 'fans' actually WANT them too just pisses me off! Instead of adding more freakin stupid ass button presses, and more first person shooting / shooting while I run, how about adding more zombies and such to SCARE THE CRAP OUT OF ME!? Seriously, all these so called 'FANS' and those involved in the above article need to get a Playstation 1 or 2 and play the ORIGINAL Resident Evil 1, 2, and 3, and possibly invest in a Gamecube or Wii to play the Resident Evil Re:make, so they can realize it's a SURVIVAL HORROR VIDEO GAME, not stupid RESIDENT EVIL 85: MODERN WARFARE!!! xx
Yeah, because Operation Raccoon City was so great.