It's something that's quite common whenever Resident Evil is mentioned: like a row of old men in a bus station, echoes of "it wasn't as good as when I was younger, they should go back to doing it how I like it." Turns out that Resident Evil has suddenly jumped in popularity since focusing more on the action and less on the survival and, believe it or not, big companies like money.
Speaking with CVG, head of marketing for Capcom UK Dave Turner explained the switch: "We've seen the popularity of Resident Evil increase massively as the series became more action oriented – Resident Evil 5 is the biggest seller in the series. So, it makes sense for us to follow this action area more fully.
"The dream would be that the millions of Call of Duty fans that are enjoying these fast-paced online games are attracted to this Resident Evil."
That last quote was specifically about Operation Racoon City, but it could probably apply to the series as a whole. It's one of those things where you just have to let something evolve without resisting too much, like Final Fantasy. Sure, in 1998 these sort of games were perfect but, outside of the context of a game being made nearly 15 years ago, that sort of thing doesn't work any more for the majority of people.
The secret, I think, is for Capcom to mix enough horror into the action to entertain the masses, although people that want tank controls and set cameras will still claim the Resident Evil developers have lost their way.
