Vancouver-based developer Slant Six Games may be developing the next in the Resident Evil franchise, according to Kotaku.
If a document forwarded to the video game enthusiast website is correct, the PlayStation developer – responsible for SOCOM: Confrontation, SOCOM: Tactical Strike and SOCOM: Fire Team Bravo 3 – is hiring additional staff to work on the next iteration of Capcom’s seminal zombie-killing franchise, codenamed Resident Evil: Raccoon City.
Visiting the studio’s official website, it reads: “Everyone here at Slant is very excited as we begin development on an amazing new project. The title is unannounced so far but we are very pleased to be working with our new publishing partner on a world class franchise!”
In March, the developer posted on Twitter, stating that the studio needed a Japanese translator, and that ‘knowledge of the video game industry” was “a plus”.
Kotaku also said that Slant Six staffers’ LinkedIn profiles mentioned an unannounced “multiplayer action game” on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
With Capcom’s apparent willingness to lease intellectual properties to Western developers, as demonstrated by titles such as Dead Rising 2 and Devil May Cry, Slant Six’s involvement wouldn’t be too much of a surprise.
What is a surprise, however, is that, if confirmed, the Japanese publisher would be willing to lend what might be considered to be its most revered franchise to such a relatively untested developer.
Stay tuned. We’ll mail Capcom.
Update at 10:54pm: “We cannot comment on rumors or speculation,” a Capcom representative told us. Expected that, didn’t you?
No more western development PLEASE!
Though I won’t get too upset at just a rumor, this is hardly the sort of thing I want to hear for the Resident Evil series. I have been saying for ages that RE should go back to it’s roots and do away with all the steroid-clad, action heavy ‘horror’ games they are becoming. SOCOM is a good online shooter, but are the devs really right for an RE game?
Perhaps they are only making an online portion of the game, as seen in the statement of them working on a “multiplayer action game” , maybe the SP and MP are being developed by different developers?
That said, (if this is true) who is to say that Slant Six will not create an amazing RE game which both reivents and embraces to it’s heritage? I hope this is true if so.
Still, this is an interesting rumor and Capcom’s official response was….well….
ehhh im not sure to if they can live up to the RE name.
why the hell are the japanese companies outsoucing their devs to western devs? i mean konami(castlevania, silent hill), and to an extent square enix.
i heard the cooperation on jap devs are sour. they like to work things on their own. which is sad since alot of japanese devs have unique and interesting ideas.
do not want