Capcom Europe COO Prefers Their Games To Be Rated Higher Than To Sell Better

Capcom gave us a glimpse of what their Resident Evil 2 remake would look like after being almost 3 years in development—without giving fans any news about the project other than it was still being developed. Then came this year's E3 and everyone was blown away by how the game look, the new over-the-shoulder perspective, and how it still managed to capture the essence of what made the original such a classic.

The over-the-shoulder perspective was not always the norm since classic Resident Evil titles always had a fixed camera view, and featured Tank Controls—meaning that players actually had to turn a whole 360 degrees in order to face the other way instead of just moving the stick the other way and have the character turn automatically. Some newer Resident Evil games added a button combination in order to have the character quickly turn around but it didn't quite fix the problem until Resident Evil 4 came out.

In 2005, Resident Evil 4 introduced us to the over-the-shoulder camera, which completely redefined the way Resident Evil games played. Turning around was still somewhat tricky but movement didn't feel restricted since the camera was no longer fixed—and this became the norm for future titles in the series, which were starting to become action games instead of survival horror...that was until Resident Evil 7 came out.

In a recent interview with GamesIndustry, Capcom Europe COO Stuart Turner and Marketing Boss at Capcom Antoine Molant discuss about the changes they made to the Resident Evil 2 remake and how they decided to go with an over-the-shoulder perspective instead of the original's fixed camera.

"We had discussions on whether we could make a game that was everything for everyone. For those guys who want tank controls and want fixed cameras... can we do that?", said Turner when asked about the controls in Resident Evil 2, hinting that fixed camera, as well as the controls, are outdated.

"But the world has moved on and these players have changed. And if we did [introduce old school mechanics], these fans might play it and actually decide it's not what they wanted after all. But we played around with a few things in development. We did try first-person, we did try fixed camera. But the way the game has been designed, we decided that a third-person view works better", explained Turner—which, in all fairness, is more than a valid point. They didn't just decide they would go with an over-the-shoulder perspective but tried different approaches and went with the one that worked best. But this didn't stop them from feeling nervous ahead of the Resident Evil 2 debut during this year's E3.

"That was probably the main worry, or question mark, that we had", explained Antoine Molant. "We knew there were expectations around the game, and we knew it looked great and would be a good game. But around the point of the tank controls and fixed cameras, we were worried that the fanbase would be divided. But, although there might have been some initial dissenting voices, the reaction was overwhelmingly positive". 

Molant's concerns were not exaggerated given that there was a vocal majority of hardcore Resident Evil fans that have not been happy with what the series has become in recent years, particularly after Resident Evil 4, when the series became a third-person action shooter.

Turner adds that they "were concerned internally about who RE2 would appeal to. With RE7 we had done this first-person thing, and with RE2 we've done this thing that looks great, but it's also back a step. So the response to that, the pre-orders we've seen already... we have been a little taken aback by how well it has gone down".

This is particularly true given how bad the reception for Resident Evil 6 was—critically, that is, because commercially the game actually sold better than the better received Resident Evil 7. One of the reasons why Resident Evil 7 was so well received is because it brought back all of the horror elements the series had lost along the way. Resident Evil Revelations are also proper horror/survival games but they aren't necessarily considered part of the main series—albeit still considered canon.

On this, Stuart Turner mentions that, although they still have shareholders to appease "it's not just about commercial performance", saying that he'd much rather make a game that gets good scores, rather than one that simply sells better without leaving a mark.

"There is an artistic element that always comes in where we know this is the right way. And while if we compare RE7 to RE6 the absolute numbers are not the same, in terms of the profitability... it's completely fine. It ticked all of our boxes internally. It was really well received. And in some respects, getting some very good review scores counts as much for Capcom as a game that sells millions and millions and millions. We'd prefer a game that got a 9 and sold less, than got a 6 but sold more".

It really is nice to see that they still care about the Resident Evil franchise and have realised that it became something different than it was when it first started. The fact that they are more interested in delivering quality content instead of cashing in on the franchise because of brand recognition actually speaks volumes and is nice to see them striving to deliver the best product possible with their Resident Evil 2 remake.