Resident Evil Village is right around the corner now, serving as one of the first showcases of what the PS5 and Xbox Series X are capable of as far as visuals are concerned. And while the game definitely seems to be emphasizing the next-gen experience, Resident Evil Village will be available on PS4 and Xbox One. However, it appears that the game wasn't guaranteed to make it to either of the last-gen consoles.
In an interview with IGN, Tsuyoshi Kanda, Resident Evil Village's producer, explained that Capcom didn't decide to bring the system to the PS4 and Xbox One until after the June showcase last year, with those versions of the game being on the chopping block if they didn't manage to meet expectations. It's a surprising move considering the install base of the PS4 and Xbox One versus that of the PS5 and Xbox Series X, though the developers did elaborate some more.
Kanda stated that the goal for the team was to make a "comparable experience" on last-gen hardware, going on to say, "if the quality hadn’t been sufficient, I don’t think we would have released it.” In addition to Kanda's statements, Director Morimasa Sato said, "If there was a big difference in graphical quality or framerate, it would not have been something we could deliver to players, so we did our best to make sure it would be satisfying on any platform."
Quality control is an important part of game development, with developers often pushing to hit a minimum level of quality before shipping a game. While the PS4 and Xbox One have conjured up some impressive experiences in the past, it's understandable that fans may be concerned about Resident Evil Village's performance on the consoles. Luckily, the demos appear to be going smoothly, at least on PlayStation.
A more widely available Resident Evil Village demo will be going live soon for Xbox and PC users, which should give fans a better idea of what to expect from the game on those platforms. The lead-up to launch has been a long road, but Resident Evil Village does stand as one of the biggest game releases of the year. Of course, it remains to be seen if fans' patience for the game will have paid off.
Regardless, it's interesting to consider that Resident Evil Village's PS4 and Xbox One versions were on the chopping block. Considering how poorly Cyberpunk 2077's last-gen launch went, it seems like more developers would want to avoid next-gen-oriented games on the system. At the end of the day, however, Capcom seems confident, and that should be a good sign for fans of the franchise.
Resident Evil Village releases May 7 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Source: IGN