Trademark Filing Outs “Resident Evil: Umbrella Corps”
Something (resident) evil, this way comes.
Capcom is once again tapping into their survival horror wellspring if a recent trademark submission is any indicator. Originally filed simply as ‘Umbrella Corps’ with the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (or, Never Heard of It for short), another filing was spotted by DualShockers.
The second filing, put in toward the Japanese Patent and Trademark Office, reveals the full title of Capcom’s mysterious game/thing as ‘Biohazard: Umbrella Corps’ – what we’d call Resident Evil: Umbrella Corps due to, funny enough, trademark enforcement protecting a hardcore band Westerners are way past caring about.
Until Capcom is ready to let the genetically altered cat out of the bag themselves, we’ll have to sate our curiosity on the thrills of copyright law. But what’s in a name?
The series has never been shy on slapping a number on main releases, so it’s not very likely this is Resident Evil 7. The mixed success stew that is the spin-off seems a better possibility. The last title to use Umbrella in its christening was the lightgun experiment Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, but that title’s sequel saw fit to carry the Chronicles name as more of a series denotation.
2012′s half-cocked co-op shooter Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, on the other hand, focused exclusively on a squad of Umbrella mercenaries blasting apart the titular town’s B.O.W.s. Despite getting a well deserved meat-check from every gaming publication on the map, that offshoot fared well in terms of sales (but still doomed to a second life lining Gamestop $4.99 bins nationwide).
Could Umbrella Corps be the bargain bin successor we’ve all been absolutely, desperately clamoring for? Or has Capcom finally listened to my countless emails demanding a beat ‘em up in the RE universe starring Barry Burton where you attack zombies beard first? Fingers crossed.