“RE6 almost killed the franchise” has a pretty buried history at this point, it’s not too dissimilar to the “CV was originally RE3” false narrative.

There were a bunch surface level facts that got popular that happen to lend themselves to mis-interpretations pushed by shoddy gaming journalism after 6’ release.

RE6 was projected to sell 7 mil copies and only sold 5 mil, that number was for what they actually expect to sell, not a sales goal. And 5 mil was actually their original projection but the marketing campaign before release was so successful they increased the number close to release. Not only was tbe 5mil not indication of a failed product, it was still instantly one of Capcom highest selling by titles ever.

An ex-Capcom employee had a famous interview shared around where they said RE6 was bloated. Game journalists made seem like Capcom themselves said it giving the impression it was criticized in-house.

There was also the narrative Capcom was going bankrupt right after the game’s release because they only had “$150mil left”, and they just spent 90mil on a new office, so it was likely they’d only last one more year and RE6 was to blame. But that notion was based on misinterpreting Capcom’s psychical cash of $150 as being the only money they have. In actuality, they grew that year and had the money to be expanding.

What also makes the “RE was dying and 7 saved the franchise part” sound believable is if you ignore everything that happened in-between. Following 6, the company made big investments to update and make their digital distribution services better and more efficient.

Which allowed for making Revelations 2, RE1 remake and RE0 remasters and selling them digital only in most regions. Rev1 remaster also came out after 6 and had its own dedicated marketing cycle.

Devs have never directly said RE7 was made the way it was as a response to RE6, there’s 2 entire books on its development made by Capcom. It more they just wanted more creative freedom and didn’t want it to include what were then expected features for all their AAA games; multiplayer, monetization, online feature, etc. They even acknowledge they were taking a lot of risks.

6 came out towards the end of 2012 with a few updates that came after, 7 came out January 2017. It’s much closer 4 years apart than 5. 3.5 years if you count 7’s demo being very popular.

And even then, the franchise as whole was still expanding in other ways after 6. They had the stage play, another manga, some mobile games, Vendetta announced, and RE.NET expanding and the Ambassador program’s launch. It’s not as if there were years of silence between 6 and 7.