Resident Evil 9 Reportedly Biggest Game In The Series to Date

Resident Evil 9 is looking like it could be quite a monster for Capcom. The Resident Evil franchise is the most tried and true horror franchises in gaming. So many games in the series are considered all-time classics such as Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 4, and even some of the spin-off games. It has managed to even survive total reinvention with games like Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil: Village following new sets of characters, throwing in things like werewolves and vampires, and moving to a first-person perspective. Although some fans were skeptical the series could pull any of this off, it worked really well. However, Resident Evil: Village largely tied up the Ethan Winters story, leaving fans to wonder what comes next.

According to longtime Resident Evil insider, Dusk Golem (via GamingBible), Resident Evil 9 is shaping up for a 2025 launch at the moment. It is expected to have the biggest budget and longest development time of any game in the series, with it beginning production back in 2018, a year after Resident Evil 7. That would suggest it has been in development in tandem with the entirety of Resident Evil: Village. It's also expected to be both a closing and beginning chapter for Capcom, wrapping up the current era of the series and possibly starting to take it all in a new direction. What all of that could mean is a mystery, but given the time and money being invested into it, it seems like Capcom has high expectations for the project and must really believe in it. Resident Evil is arguably at its peak popularity right now as it has been on a string of hits since 2017 between the mainline releases and repeatedly successful remakes.

Whether or not Capcom will maintain the first-person perspective for future Resident Evil games is unknown. It's possible Resident Evil 9 could put an end to that in favor of letting Capcom "return to its roots". The developer could also very well try to divide the series into different types of games with the remakes embracing that perspective and the new mainline games sticking to the first-person ones. Both seem to be working, so it may be a bad idea to just focus on one instead of giving players the variety that has been offering Capcom so much success in the last few years.