Resident Evil producer: Core series needs to pursue action, shooter trappings

Capcom's Masachika Kawata has said the core, numbered Resident Evil series is likely to keep up the shooter action bent, because there isn't enough demand for old school survival horror.

"RE4 started in that direction, and RE5 kept going in that direction and I think that especially for the North American market, we need to keep going in that direction, and take that a step further," the Resident Evil: Revelations producer told Gamasutra.

"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. A 'survival horror' Resident Evil doesn't seem like it'd be able to sell those kind of numbers."

That said, Kawata doesn't expect Resident Evil to end up a cookie cutter shooter.

"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 direction, the Call of Duty direction. It doesn't have to be a straight up shooter," he said.

In the meantime, with its smaller projects, Capcom can speak to the survival horror fan.

"And that's exactly one of the reasons that Revelations is the way it is," Kawata said.

"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.

"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."

Resident Evil 6 is expected in November. Resident Evil: Revelations is out now for 3DS.