Resident Evil 7 Is Coming To Switch…Via Streaming, In Japan

[AlphaKing]

Capcom announced the game’s release for Nintendo’s hybrid console yesterday, but before you start getting excited, there’s a couple of massive caveats. First, Resident Evil 7 (or Biohazard Resident Evil 7 Cloud Edition, as it’s being called) seems to be slated for a Japan-only release right now; there’s no Western release date anywhere in sight. Secondly, true to the name, the Nintendo Switch version of Resident Evil 7 is streaming-only.

The Switch version will work similarly to services like PlayStation Now and Liquid Sky. Users will be able to stream the game to their Switch (make sure you’ve got a crazy strong Internet connection) rather than downloading it to the console’s internal storage or SD card. It makes sense; the Switch’s internal storage isn’t huge, and Resident Evil 7, being a modern game, is a massive beast by the Switch’s standards.

There are a few upsides to this: Resident Evil 7 is likely to look better than the Switch could ever make it look, as the game will be running on higher-end PCs than the Tegra chip inside the Switch. Also, the Cloud Edition of Resident Evil 7 comes complete with all available DLC, so Switch users are getting as close to a complete experience as possible (without actually physically having the game). Playing this one when out and about might be a no-no, though, unless you find a particularly strong public WiFi connection.

This won’t be the first time Nintendo has toyed with the idea of streaming games to their consoles. In Japan, MMO Dragon Quest X currently operates via streaming on 3DS and smartphones, and a free-to-play edition of Sega’s Phantasy Star Online 2 can also currently be streamed to users’ Switch consoles.

There’s no word on a Western release for Biohazard Resident Evil 7 Cloud Edition yet, and it doesn’t look like it’ll be possible to stream the game from other countries, so the outlook is a bit gloomy for people outside Japan. If you’re there, though, or if you’re planning on going sometime soon, 2,000 yen (about $18) will net you a “180-day ticket”. There’s also a 15-minute long demo, presumably so you can check your connection and make sure it’s strong enough to keep this puppy running.