Resident Evil 4 Remake will cost ?57.99 on mobile
UPDATE: Due out in December.
UPDATE 07/11/23: Resident Evil 4 on mobile now has a release date.
Previoulsy slated as "coming soon", the game is now set for release on 20th December.
However, it will only be available on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models, as well as iPads and Macs with the M1 chip or higher. That's due to the use of MetalFX Upscaling to deliver impressive visuals, though we'll have to see how much that drains batteries.
As stated in the original story below, the game is free to download but will cost £57.99 in in-app purchases to play in full. The DLC is also available.
ORIGINAL STORY 26/9/2023: Resident Evil 4 Remake is heading to mobile, but it'll cost players £57.99 to play in full.
The game's listing on the App Store has the game available for free but with in-app purchases. Scrolling down, those purchases are listed in full with "Resident Evil 4 (with bonus)" priced at £57.99.
This is more expensive than as currently priced on Steam (£49.99) and PSN (£54.99), but similar to Xbox (£57.98). That's practically unheard of for a mobile game.
Information on the game's listing states: "A limited part of the base game can be played for free. In order to play the full game, an in-app purchase is required."
It's not clear how much of the game will be available for free - my guess would be up to the iconic village battle, which is where the Chainsaw Demo ended.
Other in-app purchases include an "Extra DLC Pack" - presumably the Separate Ways mission - for £15.99, as well as a number of weapon upgrade tickets priced from £2.49 to £7.99.
The game's release date is "coming soon".
Resident Evil 4 will join Resident Evil Village on mobile devices. That game will release on 30th October and will similarly allow for a free download with in-app purchases - it's ¥4990 in Japan, around £27.
It's also worth noting the price of hardware - an iPhone 15 Pro will cost £999, or £1199 for the Max version. That's practically double the cost of a PS5 or Xbox Series X/S console.
The price announcement also comes in the wake of Capcom president and chief operating officer Haruhiro Tsujimoto recently stating he feels game prices are too low.
"Development costs now are about 100 times more than they were during the Famicom era, but software prices haven't gone up to that extent," he said. "There's also a need to raise wages in order to attract talent. Seeing as wages are rising in the industry as a whole, I think raising unit prices is a healthy business model."
This may have been referring solely to prices in Japan - Tsujimoto is chairman of the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association in Japan - but the inflated price of Resident Evil 4 on mobile compared to other games on the platform is certainly eye-opening.
Will you be playing the Resident Evil games on mobile?