Is Resident Evil ending? What Jun Takeuchi really said

Jun Takeuchi, the man steering the Resident Evil franchise, has mapped out Capcom's plans for the next 10 years. Despite what some headlines suggested, he did not say Resident Evil is ending. He was talking about a story arc, and that arc is a lot bigger than one game.

Capcom also released its latest financial report, which updates where Resident Evil Veronica stands for release. Below I'll go through what Takeuchi said, the story Capcom has been quietly building since Resident Evil 7, and when I think we'll realistically get to play Veronica.

Jun Takeuchi's 30th anniversary interview with 47 News

Jun Takeuchi is one of the top executives at Capcom and the executive producer over Village, Requiem and Veronica. He's done many press interviews recently. For the 30th anniversary of Resident Evil, he sat down with 47 News, and the interview went up on Yahoo Japan. The headline is a quote from him that roughly translates to, "If it doesn't work out, I guess I'm handing in my resignation."

I read the interview and translated it myself. I don't speak Japanese, so some of this information might be a little incorrect because of translation issues. Much of the interview was Takeuchi telling stories about the history of the franchise. He spoke about how the original Resident Evil was made like an adult school festival, and how Resident Evil 2 taught the team the value of throwing out things that aren't working, which I thought was a bit funny.

Apparently some people on the team thought Resident Evil 4 wasn't Resident Evil. Shinji Mikami, who created Resident Evil, was even complaining about it to Takeuchi while the two smoked together. That's wild when you think about how Resident Evil 4 turned out and how groundbreaking it was for the entire industry. But those stories weren't the part that blew up. What blew up was what he said about the future.

IGN's headline versus what Takeuchi said about the next 10 years

IGN posted that Takeuchi revealed the series narrative has a definite conclusion and that the end could come in the next 10 years. That headline was carefully crafted, and many people read it as Resident Evil ending. That is not what he said. His words were: "I think that with Requiem, which was released this year, the first 10 years have reached a certain stopping point. So, I think things will be settled in the next 10 years."

When he was asked how many new games are coming over those 10 years, he said: "I can't say because it would take away everyone's enjoyment, but it's not going to be just one game. There will be multiple games." He's talking about a story arc, not the series ending. As soon as the IGN post picked up steam, people on Twitter were bashing it and pointing out that Takeuchi never said that.

According to Dusk Golem, Takeuchi was talking about a 10-year plan with an ongoing story told across both new games and remakes, and it's that story that wraps up in the next 10 years, not the whole series. When I saw IGN's post, I wondered what they were doing. Nowhere did Takeuchi say the series is ending. I don't understand how you take a story arc ending and equate it to the entire franchise ending.

RE News made a good point on top of that. The Shadows of Rose DLC for Village takes place in 2037, which is already more than 10 years from now. RE News also noted that Capcom isn't planning to end a franchise that has been printing money for it, with Requiem having already sold over 8 million copies. As RE News put it, nobody is closing that book anytime soon, and maybe it ends in 20 years. Who knows?

The 10-year plan built around Resident Evil 7 and the order of the remakes

So what is this story arc that's supposedly concluding? This is where it gets interesting in my opinion. According to Dusk Golem's breakdown, Takeuchi said the original Resident Evil games weren't planned together, but over time a 10-year plan formed around Resident Evil 7, the Resident Evil 2 remake, Resident Evil 3, the Resident Evil 4 remake, Village and Requiem.

Takeuchi also said: "When we planned RE2 and came up with a 10-year branding vision, this was what troubled us. If players play all of them, I think they'll be able to realize that there was this kind of meaning behind the order of the remakes." Think about that for a second. The order of the remakes wasn't random. Resident Evil 7 kicked off in 2017, then came the Resident Evil 2 remake, then Resident Evil 3 and Resident Evil 4, with Village and Requiem in between. That's almost exactly 10 years, ending with Requiem in February. If there was meaning behind the order, then the remakes and the new games have been talking to each other this entire time.

He also cleared up something he said recently: the remakes aren't a new timeline. In his words, "It's more about the harmony of the remakes and the new games releasing together to tell a new story that are paced in the order that they come out." He added that Capcom has a long-term plan for the next several games that tell an ongoing story, planned out for the next 10 years of Resident Evil.

Many people called Resident Evil 7 a soft reboot. Somebody on Twitter put it well: Resident Evil 7 is the Resident Evil 1 of the RE Engine era. That's almost exactly what Capcom is telling us. Resident Evil 7 wasn't a reset, it was chapter one. Over the next 10 years, we're about to get chapter two.

Oswell Spencer could be central to Resident Evil's next chapter

Takeuchi didn't only talk about the plan. He teased what's in it. According to leaker Dusk Golem, who constantly shares deep knowledge of Resident Evil, Silent Hill and more, there's a plot thread connecting Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil 9 that's about to get very interesting in the next few games. The tease, "I hope you're ready to learn about the true nature of Oswell Spencer," points to something we'll learn through the remakes along with the new entries.

That's a big tease. Spencer has always been a shadowy figure who started Umbrella, and we barely know anything about who he really was. A few weeks ago, I covered how one of the writers on Requiem slipped during Comic-Con that the Requiem story DLC was going to dig even deeper into Spencer. So we have a writer hinting at it, and the executive producer of the entire franchise basically confirming that Spencer is central to where the story is going.

I'm so excited. I'm ready for Veronica so I can experience that game again and see what plot threads Capcom opens up or what information it drip feeds to us, because it will most likely lead to the next thing. It's almost like they're turning Resident Evil into the MCU or the DCU, where the games are interconnected but also tell unique individual stories that eventually culminate in one big thing. Allegedly.

Capcom wants Resident Evil to go bolder

Takeuchi also said Resident Evil fans have high expectations and Capcom wants to meet and surpass them. Capcom's view going forward is that half-hearted Resident Evil games or elements won't cut it with the fan base anymore, and it wants the series to go bolder. Bolder Resident Evil. Did they just tease Resident Evil 5? I'm joking.

After Requiem, I believe them. Capcom is obviously not playing it safe right now. It's going all in, which is a good segue, because the very next game in this plan is Resident Evil Veronica.

Resident Evil Veronica is still listed for 2027

In Capcom's first half financial report for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2027, Veronica is still listed on the release schedule for 2027. There's no month and no quarter, just 2027. It's coming to PS5, Xbox Series X and S, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC.

The big news is that there hasn't been a delay yet. The fact that Capcom still mentions 2027 is good, because Dusk Golem previously reported that Veronica had a high chance of slipping into fall 2027, saying he had heard it from three separate people. Many of us were wondering whether the game could be pushed out of 2027 entirely. According to Capcom's own schedule, at least for now, that's not happening. I think that's a big sigh of relief, because I'm sure many people want to play it as soon as possible. I personally do.

Veronica's revisions are not a development restart

This is where things start to collide. According to Dusk Golem's breakdown, Takeuchi said Veronica's development is going well overall, but the team ran into two or three things it wanted to revise. He described them as maybe small, but said they would make the game better. Because of those high expectations, the team has committed the time to make those changes. That's the same Resident Evil 2 lesson from earlier: if something isn't working, you fix it, even if it costs you time.

I trust Capcom wholeheartedly. It has gotten it right so many times that I'm willing to let it cook. I'm not going to tell a studio how to make a game it has already perfected. Also, I'm just an internet guy who likes to talk about games. I don't know game development, so what do I know?

Some people have thrown out the claim that development has been restarted multiple times by the Resident Evil 4 remake team. I feel that's a bit dramatic. From everything we've seen, it seems like Capcom had a few revisions it wanted to make, not the team compiling everything, throwing it in the trash and restarting. That's not what's being described.

Takeuchi also said part of the goal with Veronica is to make every Resident Evil fan realize it's an extremely important entry in the series and not a side game. I've been saying this for a while. Code Veronica sets up so much of Chris and Wesker. If Capcom wants a few more months to get it right, let it cook.

My prediction for Resident Evil's next decade

So what does the next decade look like? This is where my opinions come in. If Capcom shows real Veronica gameplay at The Game Awards in December, I think a fall release is very realistic. It might come earlier in 2027, but I think Capcom also wants to avoid games like GTA 6 Online releasing, so perhaps a later 2027 release is better for it.

After that, there are reports, rumors and leaks about a Resident Evil Zero remake around 2028, then Resident Evil 10 around 2029, allegedly, with another Resident Evil 1 remake after that. If you ask me, I think we're probably going to get four or five big Resident Evil releases between now and the mid 2030s, with remakes, new games and DLC trading off just as they did from Resident Evil 7 to Requiem. I think it's a good cadence, and you don't fix what isn't broken.

Despite the headlines, Resident Evil is not ending. It's starting a new chapter.