Resident Evil 4 Remake reportedly delayed following creative reboot

leon kennedy resident evil 4
(Image credit: Capcom)

The long-rumored Resident Evil 4 Remake has reportedly seen a partial internal reboot after creative differences pushed Capcom to reassign the project to its mainline development team, potentially delaying the game to as late as 2023.

According to a report from VGC, the team that handles core Resident Evil and Devil May Cry games, Capcom Division 1, has now been tapped to handle the bulk of the Resident Evil 4 Remake. Prior reports indicated that M-Two, a relatively new studio led by former Platinum Games CEO Tatsuya Minami, was put in charge of the remake after its contributions to the Resident Evil 3 Remake. However, sources say M-Two has had its role on the game "significantly reduced" following its most recent project review, primarily because Capcom wants to take the remake in a different direction.

M-Two was reportedly approaching the remake as a near shot-for-shot recreation with very little deviation from the original. However, Capcom is said to be pushing for a less restricted approach that gives the Resident Evil 4 Remake room to incorporate new features and ideas not present in Resident Evil 4 itself, hence the internal handoff. Sources stressed that this sort of creative shift is not unusual for Capcom, and countless other games have changed directions mid-development before, but this sort of internal reboot could push the game out of 2022, long believed to be its target release window. 

The key takeaways here are: the Resident Evil 4 Remake never had an official release date but it may now be coming later than initially expected, and it may also be more off-script than traditional remakes. This is all coming from a reliable source, but it should be treated as unofficial until Capcom addresses the Resident Evil 4 Remake on the record. We've reached out to the publisher for clarification and will update our reporting if we hear back. 

Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.