An official announcement for Resident Evil 9 could arrive very soon according to an insider who has been keeping close tabs on its development. It was a little over a month ago that AestheticGamer aka Dusk Golem said the next franchise entry would be its first open-world game. News of this was met with mixed reactions from fans who are unsure if such an approach would work for a Resident Evil game. Now the insider has shared more details about the next game featuring a brand new story.
Per Dusk Golem (via X):
- Rumors about development delays are no longer a concern and the game is now on track to be released in January 2025
- Capcom should be making an official announcement for Resident Evil 9 very soon
- It has been in development for roughly 7 years now making it the game with the longest development time in franchise history
- It started as a possible RE8 until Village ended up taking that spot
- At one point in 2018 it and RE2, RE3, RE4, and Village were all in development at the same time
- It is said to be the most ambitious RE game ever with the largest budget in franchise history
- Part of a near-annual release strategy for Resident Evil games
Capcom is currently enjoying the successful release of Dragon’s Dogma 2 which has sold over 2.5 million copies as of last month and is in a number of top ten games of 2024 lists. It has already announced that Monster Hunter Wilds, which is also rumored to be an open-world game, for 2025 and said that more news about it is coming this summer. It’s possible that the next Capcom Showcase will focus on both Resident Evil 9 and Monster Hunter Wilds given both to use the new open-world design provided via its expanded RE Engine feature.