Dino Crisis Reboot Almost Came from Capcom Vancouver
By Dalton Cooper 16 February 2017
A supposed industry insider on NeoGAF reveals that Capcom Vancouver was once approached with the opportunity to develop a reboot of the Dino Crisis series.
While Capcom’s biggest survival-horror franchise is undoubtedly Resident Evil, it also produced another well-known horror series. Capcom’s horror series Dino Crisis traded zombies for dinosaurs, and the original was met with critical-acclaim back in the days of the original PlayStation. Unfortunately, the sequel went with a more action-oriented approach, and the third game was rejected by fans and critics alike for its far-future setting. Since the original concept had so much potential, Dino Crisis is a series that seems like it would be a prime candidate for a reboot, and apparently Capcom thinks so too, as it once approached Capcom Vancouver with such a project.
According to NeoGAF user Jawmuncher, Capcom gave Capcom Vancouver, the studio behind the Dead Rising games, the chance to reboot Dino Crisis or work on an action-RPG called Knights of Aegis. Ultimately, Capcom Vancouver chose to work on Knights of Aegis, though that project has seemingly been cancelled since the studio started work on it in 2013.
As for the current state of Dino Crisis, it doesn’t appear as though any of Capcom’s other studios stepped up to the plate to reboot the franchise. The last official word on a new Dino Crisis came six years ago, when Capcom stated that there was no chance of a new Dino Crisis game any time soon, and the company has been mostly silent when it comes to the series ever since.
So, will the world ever see a new Dino Crisis game? Nothing official has been announced, but there is a possibility that a new Dino Crisis game could materialize. After the recent reveal of Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, Capcom said it could revive other dormant franchises as well, which could include Dino Crisis.
Furthermore, Capcom has experienced a great deal of success by bringing Resident Evil back to its horror roots with a soft reboot in the form of Resident Evil 7, and it could enjoy similar success if it did the same for Dino Crisis. Resident Evil 7 has shipped 3 million units worldwide since it launched less than a month ago, and while Dino Crisis was never as popular as Resident Evil, a modern take on the concept with a renewed focus on horror could do wonders in today’s gaming landscape.
If nothing else, Capcom could benefit from reviving the original Dino Crisis as an HD remaster for current-generation consoles. Capcom has said in the past that it will focus on HD remasters as a main pillar of its market strategy moving forward, and HD remasters of the Resident Evil games have performed well for Capcom. And if the hypothetical Dino Crisis HD remaster was a sales success as well, perhaps it could convince the company to finally move forward with a full-fledged reboot of its survival-horror dinosaur series.
A new Dino Crisis game is not currently in development.
