Trivia / Dead Rising 4

• Christmas Rushed: Ironically not by the main branch of Capcom, but ended up being enforced by the Vancouver branch as they had initially tried to make a reboot of the series in a style akin to The Last of Us. But when shown to the Japan branch, the higher ups were both unimpressed and livid since they were never told of this switch and, understandably, found the more mature direction the complete opposite of what the series was known for. As a result, a good chunk of the staff ended up getting fired and Vancouver had to start over from scratch, making the game with the assets they wanted to use initially for the reboot. Essentially having wasted the time needed to make a proper sequel to the game with a limited budget they now had and lead to the removal of a lot of the series key features (The time limit, more unique psychopath battles, fleshing out the story, etc) as the staff were under a major crunch time to get it out on time. The finished product failed to impress critics and the audience and, despite trying to salvage themselves with DLC, patches and the Updated Re-release for the Playstation 4, it wasn't enough and ultimately was the major blow that tanked the branch.
• Creator Backlash: A lot of the former Capcom Vancouver staff knew the game was going to be lackluster when they switched gears back to the more hack and slash motif as they didn't have the time necessary to give it any polish. While they did what they could, even they weren't pleased with the initial result. Considering it likewise cost the branch their jobs in the long run, that also is a factor as well.
• Creator's Apathy: According to anonymous developer reports, due to the game's incredibly accelerated production timeline with departures of high-profile developers, the remaining developers were fully aware that they had a potential bomb on their hands as it was being made, but they simply had no time or creative freedom to fix any of it.
  • The staff working on the game absolutely hated the Exo-Suit and the Evo Zombies, but because Microsoft grew attached to the ideas they were forced to keep them in the game despite wanting to remove them.
• Executive Meddling: The developers wanted to reboot the series, with a tone similar to The Last of Us, but Capcom Japan wasn't interested in the concept, telling them to make a more traditional entry.
• Franchise Killer: Thanks to this game's performance, any hope of a fifth game has pretty much died.
• The Other Darrin: Frank's original voice actor, Terence J. Rotolo, was replaced by Ty Olsson (under the pseudonym Victor Nosslo) for this installment, which also leads to a Flashback with the Other Darrin during the opening prologue that echoes memorable lines from Dead Rising.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The developers wanted to reboot the series to be more serious and gritty to compete with The Last of Us. But when the concept was shown to the Japan branch, they were swiftly denied.
  • There was meant to be side quests involving serial killers which tied in to the camera feature. But was cut due to lack of time and budget.
  • If the story feels lackluster, that's because there was meant to be a more fleshed out narrative, particularly around Frank and Vicki. Again, the shortened development time ended up neutering most of it.
  • Evo Zombies had a much bigger role in the plot and were going to be tied into an Evo Queen who was meant to have a major villain role. Once again, time shortage meant this was scrapped.
  • Psychopaths were meant to be implemented in the game, with one in particular being a deformed man in a reindeer helmet known as the "Reindeer Man". However, you guessed it, the abysmally short development time raised concerns of how exactly they could be developed with their own unique personalities, voice actors, and music, as well as any Unfortunate Implications that could come from beating up and killing handicapped people, and they were sadly scrapped, being replaced with the painfully generic Maniacs.
  • Capcom Vancouver had already been toying with a Dead Rising 5 before 4 was even completed, hiring a completely new-blood team to begin pre-development. According to an insider report by DidYouKnowGaming?, the game was conceptualized as a story featuring Chuck Greene and a now-fully grown Katey, who had since developed quasi-psychic powers from her residual zombie infection, in Mexico (intentionally more colorful than the series' previous sequels). The initial pitch was that of a co-op affair focusing on tighter, more tense combat against a reduced horde full of stronger zombies, with character switching between Chuck and Katey, but continued internal squabbles and drastic changes in directors had it retooled multiple times, settling into Dark Souls-inspired gameplay with much slower and deliberate combat. The team ended up repeating the same mistake as 4's development as the project was once again rejected by Capcom Japan for being too unlike the series, and plans for 5 entirely folded once 4 bombed and Capcom Vancouver shut down in 2018.

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