In a series of now-deleted social media posts, Capcom’s former senior manager of global production Miguel Conti has offered some insight into how the company handled and worked on the Resident Evil franchise. As caught by GamesRadar, Conti has also spoken about older titles like Resident Evil – Code: Veronica, noting that it did quite a bit of damage to the overall franchise.
Having joined Capcom in 2007 before making his way up the corporate ladder, Conti discussed the more action-oriented approach taken by Resident Evil 5 and 6, and noted that the two titles wouldn’t be made without Code: Veronica first setting up the stage. In fact, he said that there is a direct throughline from Code: Veronica to Resident Evil 5 and 6.
“Everyone always mentions the first 3 RE games, and they seem to forget about Code Veronica. There is a direct line from CV to RE 5 and 6; CV is the game where the series went off the rails by trying to cram as many locales and plots as a Dreamcast disc could hold.” He went on to say that “many of the devs consider CV the best of the pre-RE4 titles.” However, he “would argue constantly that RE2 is much better.”
When taking a larger view of the entire franchise, it’s difficult to say that Conti is wrong about Code: Veronica having a large influence on future games in the franchise. The entire Resident Evil series is noted to have taken a more action-oriented gameplay approach over time, with Code: Veronica and Resident Evil 4 both marking different ways that Capcom could approach the genre.
He went on to note that even the opening cinematic for Resident Evil – Code: Veronica was “a straight-up Die Hard/John Woo pastiche and there’s nothing horror about it”, putting the title more in line with the action-oriented gameplay and atmosphere offered by Resident Evil 5 and 6. “No shade on CV fans, but seeing how it had a direct, negative development on the franchise means I am pretty biased against it. Take my bias with a grain of salt.”
Code: Veronica makes for an especially interesting subject of discussion since it manages to be forgotten even by fans of the Resident Evil franchise despite the title having story elements that would go on to shape the characters and personalities of both Redfield siblings. Some even go as far as to call it the “true” Resident Evil 3 over 1999’s Resident Evil 3: Nemesis.
It is also worth noting that Capcom is looking to remedy this by making Code: Veronica its next target for a remake. Dubbed Resident Evil Veronica, the remake was unveiled earlier this year, and while Capcom hasn’t yet announced a proper release date for it, the company has said that it will be coming to PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2 in 2027.
In the meantime, take a look at what Conti has said about the development of Resident Evil 7. And while you’re at it, check out our review of the Nintendo Switch 2 release of the Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4 remakes.
