Capcom director, Shinji Mikami, is celebrating his 30th anniversary in the video game industry this year. To celebrate this special occasion, he did an extensive interview with Variety, discussing everything under the sun about his long-running career.
During a part he reflects on Resident Evil 4, which as you may recall, was originally exclusive to Nintendo’s GameCube. Prior to the game’s launch, Capcom signed a deal with Nintendo, and the reason for this was presumably his own concern for the video game industry at the time.
Mikami explained that he was concerned that if the PlayStation 2 didn’t work, Sony “might get back to what they are good at and known for”. He apparently thought the same about Microsoft and its original Xbox. That left him only one option:
“At the time, I thought, ‘Well, Nintendo might be the only one who would have games for people in the future – not just kids, but adults too.’ That was the thought at the time. “
He admits he was “wrong” – with Sony now on its fifth PlayStation console release and Microsoft on its fourth iteration of Xbox hardware.
Mikami, as you may have heard before, was adamant back then as well to keep Resident Evil 4 exclusive to Nintendo when talk of porting to other platforms. He even risked his job at one point:
“I remember when Capcom’s president, Tsujimoto Kenzo-san, called me and asked me, ‘Are we really not going to release on other platforms?’ And I had to say, “Well, if you want to, you can do that, but you have to fire me first.” ”
Ultimately, he realizes that the multi-platform release paid off: the game sold 10 million copies over its lifespan. If all of this has got you in the mood for Resident Evil 4, you can download it from the Switch eShop.