Capcom has explained why it’s launching Resident Evil 7: Biohazard in the chilly wastelands of January 2017.
Speaking during an interview with MCV, Capcom’s EMEA marketing director, Antoine Molant, noted that many titles in the publisher’s history have seen great success in January, hence why Resident Evil 7 is following a similar trend.
“Historically, we have released quite a lot of games in January and it has gone well. To be honest, there’s a development reason – it’s not going to be ready before Christmas, and we don’t want a game that’s unfinished. Just look at April and May this year, even spring is getting congested. Q1 is going to be mental next year – you saw that from the announcements at E3,” he said.
It’s easy to see why many folk would be perhaps surprised by the January release window. After all, many triple-A titles of Resident Evil 7’s calibre have traditionally been released in the fall or spring period.
If we look at Resident Evil’s history, there doesn’t seem to be a clear pattern in place. For example, Resident Evil launched in the U.S. at the end of March, Resident Evil 2 in late January, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis in November, and Resident Evil CODE: Veronica X in September.
Resident Evil 4 is the most recent mainline franchise entry to see a January release, hitting Nintendo GameCube in the U.S. on January 11, 2005. Resident Evil 5 and 6 arrived in March 2009 and October 2012, respectively.
Resident Evil 7 demo continues to intrigue gamers
Capcom announced Resident Evil 7 during Sony’s E3 2016 press conference, where it confirmed a January 24, 2017 U.S. and European launch date for the title. The same day, it also made available a playable teaser, Beginning Hour, exclusively for PlayStation Plus users.
The demo contains more than its fair share of secrets, with the notorious Resident Evil 7 dummy finger perhaps being the most curious of them all. Players have yet to find a use for this mysterious item, although Capcom has indicated it does have a use and we’ll find out at some point.
Resident Evil 7 has been confirmed to take place in a rural plantation somewhere in the southern U.S., and is set within the same universe as the main franchise. However, the game will feature a new playable character and adopts a first-person perspective for the first time in a core Resi title.
In addition, the upcoming survival horror title will be fully playable from start to finish with PlayStation VR.