Capcom plans Resident Evil 'full-scale offensive' hinting at Resi 7

Series protagonist Leon Kennedy in Resident Evil 6. Capcom

Capcom has revealed it is planning a "full-scale offensive" relating to the Resident Evil franchise, for the second half of the current financial year. Revealed in its year-end results, the company's statement of intent hints at the release of the long-touted Resident Evil 7, between now and April 2017.

Looking ahead, the company's results for the past year referred to plans to release shooter Resident Evil: Umbrella Corps in June, following on from the series' 20<sup>th anniversary in March, describing the release as a "warm up to the full-scale offensive planned for the second half of the year".

Resident Evil 6 launched in October 2012, breaking company records on its way to a 6.3 million sales total, as of September 2015. Those sales came in despite the game being received poorly by both fans and critics, particularly in contrast to past games in the series.

Since Resi 6, new games released under the name have been a mix of handheld titles, remasters and episodic downloadable games. News of a seventh mainline game has been expected for some time, but Capcom have held off. As the series enjoys its anniversary this year, news of Resi 7 is expected once more, and could arrive as soon as the E3 trade show in June.

At the time of writing, the only Resident Evil games confirmed for release are Umbrella Corps (21 June), remasters of Resident Evil 4 and 5 (following the release of a 6 remaster) and a full remake of Resident Evil 2, which is not expected for some time.