10 Video Game Developers Who Made The Right Decision To Ignore Fans
2. Capcom - Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil 4 had a famously drawn-out development schedule, with no fewer than four different versions being created and scrapped before Capcom settled on the final design.
The discarded concepts ranged from a simple continuation of the formula popularised by the first three Resident Evil games (complete with awkward fixed camera angles), to a superpowered, fast-paced combo-heavy action title. The eventual product ended up as something of a halfway house, providing the blend of oppressive horror atmopshere and hectic gameplay which would define the series until the soft reboot of Resident Evil VII.
At the time, Capcom had an EA-like reputation for releasing similar Resident Evil games year-on-year, so the complete shift in tone caught many by surprise.
But fans needn't have worried.
RE4 not only reinvigorated its own franchise, but managed to spawn an entirely new one. Capcom continued to develop the action-heavy prototype mentioned earlier, which ultimately became Devil May Cry.
RE4 went on to become one of the bestselling games on Gamecube and PS4 and has been ported to several platforms including mobile, a feat which not even Skyrim has achieved yet.