Bonus Issue: Resident Evil Recent News Roundup
Resident Evil on Xbox Game Pass, Gold Edition, and more
Here’s a look at some recent news related to the Resident Evil series.
Resident Evil 2 and 3 come to Xbox Game Pass and Play Anywhere
Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 are now available to all subscribers of Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft’s all-you-can-play monthly subscription service. This isn’t the first time an RE game has been on the service; in the past, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Resident Evil: Revelations and other titles have been on either Game Pass or Sony’s competing PlayStation Plus for months at a time.
What is interesting about RE2 and RE3’s arrival on the service is that they are now Play Anywhere titles, years after their launches (meanwhile, RE7 had Play Anywhere functionality at its 2017 launch). For those who don’t know, what this functionality does is essentially grant digital Xbox users with entitlements to both the Xbox console (Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S), as well as the Microsoft Store version of the PC release and Cloud support for no extra charge. You can thus play on your Xbox console or PC at home, and continue the same save file on the go with cloud gaming to your mobile device. While the MS Store on PC is nowhere near as robust as Steam, the added options never hurt.
This is also another step in Capcom’s evident pursuit of putting RE on as many devices as it can. We’ve seen their recent initiatives on Apple’s ecosystem, and now we’re getting more options than ever on Microsoft’s services. For my part, I’m glad I can now use the same save file on Xbox and PC, should I choose to do so. I can only hope Capcom adds Play Anywhere to Resident Evil: Village and Resident Evil 4 before long.
I have to wonder if Capcom has its next sights set on the Epic Game Store, a marketplace with no single RE game (or Capcom game) on it. I don’t actually know anyone who would hold out for an EGS release of any RE game, and Capcom is not a current Unreal Engine developer (as far as I know), so I can’t imagine the benefits are high, but hey, Capcom did pursue cloud releases on Stadia and Switch, which must be the most niche out there.
Resident Evil 4 Gold Edition is bad for game preservation
There were rumors back in early December that Capcom was preparing a Gold Edition rerelease of RE4, and it was finally announced just days prior to its February 9 digital launch. In Asian countries, the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions were also released on physical formats, with a physical release in Europe scheduled for March, according to Capcom.
There were few surprises about this release. As expected, it bundles RE4, Separate Ways and all the DLC released for the game.
Unfortunately, Capcom followed what they did for Village’s Gold Edition and are releasing a physical SKU with just the vanilla RE4 disc and a download code for all the various (and this time in fewer territories; there is no North American Gold Edition physical release planned).
Gone are the days when Capcom would release physical SKUs with all DLC on the disc or cartridge. Should Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Valve, or Apple decide to discontinue their digital marketplaces (highly possible in the case of cloud streaming), in theory players can lose access to their DLC or anything else not explicitly on the physical media itself. While I recognize the chances are still small, I’ve always supported giving users as many choices as possible in the media they consume.
4Gamer Interviews RE4 Producers Hirabayashi and Kumazawa
Finally, Japanese game news website 4Gamer interviewed Capcom Producers Yoshiaki Hirabayashi (Main Campaign) and Masato Kumazawa (VR Mode) to celebrate the release of RE4 Gold Edition.
Much of the interview content retreads what Capcom has said about RE4 since its announcement back in June 2022. During development, the team felt a lot of pressure to meet the high expectations of the remake, given the status of the original as one of the best games ever. After its launch in March 2023, RE4 received critical acclaim, won numerous awards, and has sold over 6 million copies. Separate Ways and VR Mode have contributed to the game’s continued success post-launch. Hirayabashi also discussed the RE series’s more recent focus on strong narratives consistent with modern game design.
That being said, there were two interesting tidbits to come out of the interview:
The release of Gold Edition formally wraps up the RE4 project as a whole. Though not explicitly stated, it’s implied that production and development related to RE4 is finished as of February 9. There was largely unfounded speculation in the RE community of Capcom making more DLC, such as one based on Operation Javier, but this interview puts that speculation to rest.
4Gamer flat out asked what Capcom has in store for future RE remakes, and once again, Capcom was mum on details. They did say, as they always do, to look forward to what the company has in store.
This does make me wonder once again what 2024 has in store for the RE series. I previously speculated in the January 5 subscriber-only issue what this could be. Capcom typically tries to wrap up on RE project entirely before embarking on the next one. Work on RE7 wrapped up before RE2 was announced, and RE2 was done by the time RE3 was announced. Capcom released RE3 just months before Village’s announcement, and Village got its final DLC, VR Mode, a little over a month before RE4 was released. Maybe Resident Evil 9 isn’t so far off, after all?