Capcom director, Shinji Mikami, this year celebrates his 30th anniversary in the video game industry. To mark this special occasion, he’s done a lengthy interview with Variety discussing everything under the sun about his long-running career.
During one section, he reflects on Resident Evil 4, which as you might recall, was originally exclusive to Nintendo’s GameCube. Ahead of the game’s launch, Capcom signed a deal with Nintendo, and the reason behind this was supposedly out of his own concern for the video game industry at the time.
Mikami explained how he was worried Sony “might just go back to what they’re good at and what they’re known for” if the PlayStation 2 didn’t work out. He apparently felt the same way about Microsoft and its original Xbox. That left him with only one option:
“At the time, I was thinking, ‘Well, Nintendo might be the only one left in the future that would have games for people — not just children, but also adults.’ That was the thinking at that time.”
He admits he got it “wrong” – with Sony now up to its fifth PlayStation console release, and Microsoft on its fourth iteration of Xbox hardware.
Mikami, as you might have previously heard, was also adamant back then about keeping Resident Evil 4 a Nintendo exclusive, when talks began about porting it to other platforms. He even put his job on the line at one stage:
“I do remember the chairman of Capcom, Tsujimoto Kenzo-san, called me in and asked me, ‘Are we really not going to release on other platforms?’ And I had to say, ‘Well, if you want to do that, you can do that, but you have to fire me first.’”
In the end, he realises the multi-platform release paid off – with the game selling 10 million copies during its lifespan. If all this has got you in the mood for some Resident Evil 4, it’s available to download from the Switch eShop.