Next Resident Evil likely aimed at core fans, says ex-Capcom SVP
Capcom is taking its cue from fan feedback for Resident Evil 6, and the next game in the series is "likely" to appeal more to core fans, according to former senior vice president of marketing Michael Pattison. Speaking to MCV while employed at Capcom, Pattison said the company took notice of calls for the series to focus on survival horror rather than attempt a broader scope.
"With Resident Evil 6 specifically, we probably put too much content in there, there were comments from consumers that said it felt bloated," Pattison told MCV. "The Leon missions went down very well, and because we did Resident Evil Revelations on 3DS, there was a cry out for us to focus our attention on survival horror, rather than be too many things to all people. You'll find where we go next will likely be more targeted at our core fanbase."
We've clarified with Capcom that Pattison's comments were made to MCV during E3 in June, when he was still employed by the company. According to Pattison's LinkedIn profile, he left Capcom in July and joined Sony Computer Entertainment Europe in August as vice president of third party publisher and developer relations.
Resident Evil 6 shifted just under 5 million units in six months, figures that didn't meet the company's projections. It's fair to say the series' switch away from survival horror hasn't gone down well with everyone, although in his his two-and-a-half stars review of Resident Evil 6, Joystiq chief Ludwig Kietzmann said it had the potential to be a great action game: "The problem isn't that Resident Evil is changing direction over time. No, it wants to go in all directions in once."
