14 DAY TRIAL // Resident Evil producer Masachika Kawata has looked back on the performance of the franchise in 2012 and noted that, while three different titles were released in those 12 months, the games may have saturated the market and caused the negative reception encountered by Resident Evil 6.
Capcom's Resident Evil series has been around for quite some time and offered gamers a wide range of different experiences either on HD home consoles, like Resident Evil 6, or on handheld platforms, like Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D for the 3DS.
Now, looking back on 2012, Resident Evil producer Masachika Kawata has told Videogamer that perhaps Capcom released too many games that saturated the market.
In 2012, Resident Evil: Revelations appeared on the 3DS, while Resident Evil 6 and Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City hit home consoles like the PS3 or Xbox 360 and the PC.
"I think certainly looking at the last year or two, there probably were a few too many," Kawata said. "I think we learned last year that putting on a lot of titles would not necessarily win over gamers. At the same time I don't think we should just stagger them out artificially because that the solution to the problem we have."
Capcom will thoroughly examine this situation, according to Kawata, and will operate the changes that will be required in order to keep from saturating the market.
"We should always start by asking how do we make the games better. And if the solution to making the games better is to have a more staggered release than we've had recently then that's something we'll do. But we'll do it for that reason and not just for flipping what we've done already."
Kawata also talked with Eurogamer about the Resident Evil series, and emphasized that a new strategy will be formulated after the release of Revelations onto new platforms in March.
"We don't want to respond directly to, for example, the reaction to Resident Evil 6," Kawata explained, "[rather than] taking a chance to re-examine the series as a whole within ourselves, within the company, and decide where we want to take it from there."
Two big Resident Evil releases will happen this year, as Revelations will be released onto the PC, PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U, while Resident Evil 6 will arrive on the PC, both in March.