The Resident Evil 4 Remake hasn't even been officially announced yet, but it's moving along as Capcom's worst-kept secret. Now the publisher has reportedly put a new lead studio on the project too.
According to a VGC report, new studio M-Two has had its role on the project "significantly reduced" as Capcom Division 1, the team most often found working on Resident Evil, has taken the reins. Despite M-Two's creation as the studio that would lead the way with Resident Evil 4 Remake, the publisher has, according to sources speaking to VGC, been brought in to "lead a new direction."
It's said that the rift between M-Two and Capcom was born out of disagreement over how faithful to the original Resident Evil 4 the team should remain, with M-Two wanting to be very faithful to it and apparently Capcom intending to experiment more with the remake. M-Two's direction has been partly influenced by the negative feedback to last year's Resident Evil 3 remake missing some sections from the original game itself.
Division 1 has been brought in to instead use Resident Evil 4 as a template, but to also freely rethink elements of the classic game, such as story beats, mechanics, and some environments. Sources told VGC the shift from M-Two to Division 1 may see the game set back to a 2023 launch at this rate, which would possibly mean next year will be the first without a new Resident Evil game since 2018.
According to sources, both Resident Evil 2 and 3 underwent similar changes in development, so it's possibly nothing to worry about - depending on your opinion of those remakes of course.
Resident Evil has been on a great run as of late, with three games launching since 2017 and a fourth, Resident Evil VIllage, also known as Resident Evil 8, coming on May 7. Resident Evil 7 earned the studio high praise with its shift to first-person, garnering an 86 average on OpenCritic. Resident Evil 2 was even better received, averaging 92 on OpenCritic in 2019. Last year's Resident Evil 3 dipped a bit, but still sits comfortably in our "Strong" window with an 80 average.
