Resident Evil 8 no longer a cross-gen game due to graphics overhaul, leaker says

By Aaron Mamiit June 14, 2020

Capcom recently decided to focus the development of Resident Evil 8: Village on next-generation consoles after starting the project as a cross-generation game, according to a reliable leaker.

Resident Evil 8 was showcased in Sony’s The Future of Gaming event for the PlayStation 5 last week. The trailer showed Ethan Winters, the protagonist of Resident Evil 7, exploring a mysterious village. Chris Redfield, a mainstay of the series, also appears in the trailer.

Resident Evil 8 is set to launch next year for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC. Capcom also intended to launch the game on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but those plans have changed, according to video game leaker Dusk Golem.

Dusk Golem said that Resident Evil 8 was planned as a cross-gen game as recently as four months ago. The decision to focus on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X was due to a graphics overhaul that that is still in the works and resulted in longer loading times for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

“So they decided to drop the last-gen versions of the game to make it so the game had no loading at all (not limited by last-gen hardware) and push the graphic overhaul further without the limitations of last-gen tech in mind,” Dusk Golem tweeted.

The graphics overhaul, meanwhile, was initiated because Resident Evil 8 was upgraded into a mainline title after the project started as a sideline game, according to Dusk Golem. It has been already fully playable from start to finish for months, the leaker said, but Capcom is not yet finished with the overhaul, which was approved in late 2019.

Resident Evil 8 was previously described by Dusk Golem as “the darkest and most gruesome” entry in the franchise yet.

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