Capcom boosts its rerelease strategy with Resident Evil 4, RE5, and RE6 for PS4 and Xbox One

Evil is ready to reside in 2016.

Capcom announced today that Resident Evil 6, RE 5, and RE 4 are coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One throughout the year as digital downloads. They’ll each cost $20. The series has sold over 66 million copies, making it one of Capcom’s most important franchises. Resident Evil 6 will come first on March 29, with Resident Evil 5 following in the summer and Resident Evil 4 releasing in the fall.

Capcom has been busy re-releasing Resident Evil games, with the original and Resident Evil 0 already available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Resident Evil 2 is also on the way. We’re going to go ahead and guess that Resident Evil 3 is probably coming, too. Digital releases of older games are a popular tool for many publishers. They’re a relatively easy way of generating revenue, since they don’t require building a new game from the ground up. They can also introduce older titles to a new audience. Resident Evil 4, for example, came out originally back in 2005, so there’s a whole generation of gamers today that were likely too young for its initial release.

The reverse order might seem strange, but Capcom is more likely to keep fans’ interest in the releases by going this route. Starting with Resident Evil 4, which many considered a landmark game for reinventing third-person shooter action, fans and critics regarded each subsequent entry in the series with less enthusiasm.