'Resident Evil 6' Release Date: More 'Call Of Duty,' Less Survival Horror, Says Capcom

Some fans were let down by Resident Evil 6, the latest release in the Resident Evil franchise, officially: Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City. The game was said to have strayed from its trademark zombie horror-survival stigma, and the next addition to the series may take a similar route. It's more Call of Duty, less survival horror, according to critics.

According to Destructoid, Capcom producer Masachika Kawata said that he believes Resident Evil 6 needs to be an action game rather than survival horror. He said that the market for survival horror is too small for Resident Evil 6 to do well.

['Resident Evil's' primary games] need to be an extension of the changes made in 'Resident Evil 4' and 'Resident Evil 5,' he said to Gamasutra. I think that especially for the North American market, we need to keep going in that direction, and take that a step further. And that's exactly one of the reasons 'Revelations' is the way it is.

Kawata compared Resident Evil to games that rake in the most sales.

Looking at the marketing data [for survival games]... the market is small compared to the number of units 'Call of Duty' and all those action games sell, he said to the gaming website. A 'survival horror' 'Resident Evil' doesn't seem like it'd be able to sell those kinds of numbers.

He went on to say that Resident Evil doesn't need to be strictly an action game, but he intends to break into genres other than horror. Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City tried to jumpstart this process, receiving backlash from fans and critics.

Resident Evil used to be one thing: a scare-focused, resource management survival nightmare, wrote Kotaku when reviewing the latest game. But it's mutated so much over the last decade that it feels mercurial or even diluted.

But the real question is-how will the infected corpse-slaying fan base react to the shift? After establishing certain expectations for their fan base, built on a legacy of about 16 years, Capcom is may take away what players love about the Resident Evil franchise.

Until the November 2012 release date, it is unclear how well Resident Evil 6 will be received by fans. Maybe the developers will smooth over the bumps and glitches in Operation Raccoon City and produce a fresh and engaging spin on an old classic.