Resident Evil 0 is getting another chance to shine.
Capcom announced today that it’s remastering the 2002 GameCube-exclusive survival-horror game that saw a no-frills rerelease on Nintendo Wii back in 2010. This new HD remaster is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC in early 2016.
Capcom recently found success with its HD remaster of the original Resident Evil, selling over 1 million copies worldwide. Bringing back old titles with a fresh look is a key part of Capcom’s business strategy going forward, and gamers are obviously happy to buy them if they’re priced right and easy to access digitally.
Resident Evil 0 is a prequel to the first Resident Evil title, and it features S.T.A.R.S. agent Rebecca Chambers teaming up with convict Billy Coen as the Resident Evil story starts to unfold. Players can swap between Rebecca and Billy in a unique “partner zapping” system that got a mixed reception from players and critics at the time. Personally, I thought it was pretty cool.
“HD remasters of our catalog hit titles will be one of our key business activities,” said Capcom during a recent Q&A for investors. “Overseas, it is becoming difficult to sell these lower-priced and remastered titles at stores because of the declining number of stores and sales area limitations. Therefore, we started aggressive digital download sales activities. These activities created new demand for these titles. For example, overseas download sales of Resident Evil in the past fiscal year were far higher than we expected.”
If this new Resident Evil 0 proves as popular as the Resident Evil remaster, it could rival the original GameCube release which sold 1,250,000 copies in five years.