With the overwhelming success of the newest Resident Evil 4 Remake, fans are already theorizing about which game is Capcom focusing on releasing next. There is an almost guaranteed possibility that Resident Evil 9 is in the works too, considering Resident Evil Village was also a commercial success. But we’ll probably have another Remake of the saga coming our way. I’m convinced a Remake of Resident Evil Outbreak isn’t a very crazy thought. Read more for my complete theory regarding this hypothetical online game.
Keep in mind that everything you’re going to read in this article is pure speculation. Capcom hasn’t confirmed anything yet and there’s no actual information on which Remake they’re planning to release next. Take all theories, leaks, and clues shown here with a grain of salt.
Which Resident Evil Game Is Capcom Releasing Next?
This is probably the most common question everyone asked themselves after watching the credits roll in Resident Evil 4 Remake. Is Resident Evil 5 getting that Remake treatment too? It’s highly likely, considering Capcom has been on a success streak since the release of Resident Evil 7, the game that saved the series from the darkest pit it has ever fallen in. But before we ever get to see a Resident Evil 5 Remake, it’s logical that we might see another few entries before.
Not Code Veronica?
Despite every fan of the series would logically think that Code: Veronica is the best possible Remake to release sooner than later, a few months back the Resident Evil 4 Remake producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi revealed in an interview with Noisy Pixel that there are no current plans to remake this entry, at least for now.
Then again, this doesn’t give us too much to go on other than Code Veronica is apparently not going to be remade in the near future.
It seems Capcom doesn’t have any plans to remake this classic title… at least for now.
Why Resident Evil Outbreak Remake?
Now, there are many reasons to believe Capcom has at least internally discussed the idea of developing a remake, remaster, reboot, port, or a whole new entry of the Resident Evil Outbreak spin-off games to current-gen consoles. If we end up getting it or not is a whole other story. But the clues of their interest in this particular spin-off are more than evident.
The Online Component
The first reason to believe Capcom has thought about bringing a Resident Evil Outbreak Remake is their latest multiplayer games that focus on an online-only experience. Yes, Resident Evil Resistance and Resident Evil Re:Verse were both critical failures and seemed to be a low effort from Capcom to get easy money through Battle Passes and shiny skins. But there’s a chance that that wasn’t the only reason Capcom made these two poorly received online games.
Both multiplayer games died rather quickly due to the lack of updates and balancing.
There’s a slight possibility that Capcom also developed both Resident Evil Resistance and Resident Evil Re:Verse to test their player base, servers, and the RE Engine working with the online component. Think about it. Both games explore the idea of characters with different skill sets fighting hordes of monsters from the Resident Evil universe. It’s not too crazy to believe Capcom thought it was a good shot to bring these two games just to test the waters for a bigger project with those elements. That would explain why the marketing campaigns and development of these games were so underwhelming. Also, both games were included with other Resident Evil titles instead of being sold separately or released for free. Almost like they always wanted these games to work as some kind of “closed betas”. An interesting move, at the very least…
The Resident Evil 3 Remake “Outbreak” Easter Egg
It’s true that Resident Evil 3 Remake wasn’t what everyone expected it to be. But this game is one of the recent titles of the franchise that contains a very large amount of Easter Eggs that reference other Resident Evil games, especially Resident Evil Outbreak. But there’s one in which Capcom made a suspicious amount of effort to include it…
After the first mandatory boss fight against Nemesis, Jill climbs a fire truck to reach the other side of the street. After dropping down from the fire truck you can immediately turn back and listen to a police car emitting a message from an “unknown” officer. Here’s the full translated message, below you can also watch the clip for yourself (credits to Alma Wade on YouTube):
“R.P.D. Dispatch, this is 1-5-3. I’m trapped in North Garden with 3 civilians. West side, cafeteria, back of the kitchen. One of us is injured and immobilized, please advise…”
Some people believe this is a clear reference to the first playable scenario in Resident Evil Outbreak. And the person speaking through the radio would be Kevin Ryman, an R.P.D. officer and a playable character of the aforementioned scenario. On the other hand, some people deny this could reference Outbreak at all since Kevin is involved in a similar situation in the original game, but his group is hiding inside a Bar instead of a Cafeteria. But this inconsistency only makes me keep thinking about a possible Remake. Changing locations and altering story elements are a few of the most common things in Remakes nowadays. If they were just referencing an older Resident Evil game, why would they change the locations or story at all? Because they could possibly be planning to reimagine those scenarios on a future Resident Evil Outbreak Remake.
The Nvidia Leak
This is very likely the strongest evidence of a possible return of the Outbreak spin-offs. Back in 2021, Nvidia suffered from a massive leak that listed hundreds of games that were supposedly going to be released on PC in the near future. There were a few Capcom titles on this list, but the ones that stood out from the rest were Resident Evil 4 Remake and Resident Evil Outbreak. The former wasn’t even close to being announced back then, but it eventually became a reality and we can actually play it nowadays. This happened with several games on the list. And this list keeps getting confirmed to be real due to the large number of games that turned out to actually release on PC during 2022 and 2023. It’s not too crazy to think that Resident Evil Outbreak is on that list for an obvious reason.
The well-known former leaker Dusk Golem talked about it back in the day, you can read his tweets below in case you want more information regarding this matter.
(1/5) So I am sure people are going to ask me about this, especially the Resident Evil Outbreak mention.
It's not spread fully yet, but there was a legitmate Nvidia leak earlier for a listing of thousands of depots for various sources linked to GeForce. So, the leak is a bit pic.twitter.com/SHuyi4UfRd
— AestheticGamer aka Dusk Golem (@AestheticGamer1) September 13, 2021
There is more to this theory, but this is probably the most important evidence I’ve been able to find online. Everything else feels like a rough push. Will we ever get to see a Resident Evil Outbreak Remake? Only time will tell. We will have to wait for an official announcement in case this is real. But seeing how things are developing after the release of Resident Evil 4 Remake… I wouldn’t be surprised.
