Miguel Corti Says Resident Evil 7’s Flaws Were Clear During Development
The former Capcom producer traces the game's first-person direction to a development reset after Resident Evil 6.
Former Capcom producer Miguel Corti says many of Resident Evil 7‘s flaws were apparent during development, but went unaddressed. His account also traces the game’s eventual first-person direction to the upheaval that followed Resident Evil 6.
It's great to see this game still generating critical discussion some 10 years later. It's flaws stand out more so probably thanks to the comparisons to the remakes. As someone deeply involved with the production, I can say a lot of the flaws were vividly present at the time, and roundly ignored.
— Umberto Echo Chamber (@miguel-corti.bsky.social) 2026-10-18T21:37:17.272Z
Capcom executives were satisfied with Resident Evil 6, while developers wanted the critical acclaim other games were earning. Early versions of the follow-up took cues from The Last of Us rather than Call of Duty. Corti said narrative focus became a mandate because it seemed like the only rationale for making a single-player game. The team also wanted to build on the influence Resident Evil had on other games by making the new entry more narrative-driven and adding more connections to the series’ lore.
It may surprise you to learn that the originally planned RE7 went through a few iterations. Instead of taking cues from CoD, they were all coming from The Last of Us, with even a mandate to focus on narrative, since that seemed like the only rationale to make a single-player game anymore.
— Umberto Echo Chamber (@miguel-corti.bsky.social) 2026-10-18T22:19:45.724Z
The story ideas became so sprawling that Corti lost track of them. A major reorganization at Capcom led to a restart from scratch, with a new team and director taking over. Corti describes the director as closely involved in development and says he proposed making the game first-person. More unusual ideas, he adds, can take hold when someone on the team gets behind an unexpected possibility.
Resident Evil 7 initially underperformed, Corti says. Fans were unsure what to make of it, players outside the series were wary of its horror, and Capcom was disappointed. He credits Resident Evil Village and the memes around it with helping the earlier game build a reputation on the level of Resident Evil 4.
Corti’s account also informs his opposition to generative AI in game development. He argues that Resident Evil 7 benefited from the back-and-forth during development, and could have suffered if its art director and executive producer had gotten everything they envisioned immediately.
What part of Corti’s account most changes how you see Resident Evil 7‘s development, from its narrative plans to its turn toward first-person horror? Follow the creative decisions behind major horror games on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.
