Capcom has dropped a sneaky little Resident Evil 9 tease in plain sight.
In celebration of hitting a staggering 10 million players, the Resident Evil 4 dev team uploaded a short video to social media earlier today, April 25, showing Ada Wong having a quiet word with one of gaming's most iconic villains before cutting to Leon, the infected horde around him donning party hats as they mosey towards the church.
It then cuts to a rock song, Dr Salvador strumming his chainsaw like a guitar — yes, really — and the camera pans back to show a fist-pumping Leon. Behind him is a rustic sign with the words "Thank you for playing" emblazoned across it.
You can see it in full below:
エージェントの皆様へ
感謝の気持ちを込めて記念映像をご用意いたしました。ぜひ音付きでお楽しみください。Attention all agents,
We've prepared a special video to express our gratitude to all of you, which we hope you'll enjoy (with sound ON)!RE4 Dev Team pic.twitter.com/cKaS198UVY
— Capcom Dev 1 (@dev1_official) April 25, 2025
Turn that sign onto its side, however, and the boards on the sign make the roman numeral "IX," aka the number 9.
While it's possible this could all be entirely coincidental, as horror game leaker Dusk Golem points out, there's clearly no lower plank on the same sign in earlier parts of the video, so it was certainly added intentionally. Make of that what you will.
"I know what you did here," said one surprised responder, appending a wide-eyes emoji.
Capcom has confirmed the next mainline entry in the Resident Evil series will be directed by Resident Evil 7 director Koshi Nakanishi.
"It was really difficult to figure out what to do after [Resident Evil 7]," Nakanishi said at the time. "But I found it, and to be honest it feels substantial. I can't share any details just yet, but I hope you're excited for the day I can." It's thought — if not confirmed — it'll take place on an island inspired by Singapore.
Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
