the curious story of how the famous franchise became Resident Evil in the West

Quick summary!

Capcom’s horror franchise could have had another title in the West if it weren’t for an obscure MS-DOS game and a hardcore band from New York. The trademark conflict in 1994 forced the Japanese company to improvise, resulting in one of the most iconic names in gaming — chosen from dozens of employee proposals.

Com Resident Evil 9: Requiem approaching, a curiosity that shaped the identity of the franchise returns to the spotlight: the title we know in the West only exists because of a legal problem. While in Japan the game has always been “Biohazard”, Capcom ran into intellectual property obstacles when trying to register the brand in the United States. Let’s learn about this story in this article.

The problem no one predicted

At the end of 1994, Capcom Entertainment was already accelerating the marketing of what would be the first game in the series. The initial plan was to maintain “Biohazard” globally, but American legal realities complicated everything. Chris Kramer, then senior director of communications at Capcom US, reported in an interview published in 2009 by GamesRadar+ that two main conflicts made the name unfeasible.

First, an MS-DOS title also called “Biohazard” had just been released in the US. Second, a New York hardcore band had been using the same identity for years. Registering the trademark would be practically impossible, or it would cost an expensive and time-consuming legal battle.

The solution was to shift the responsibility at home. The head of marketing organized an internal competition open to all Capcom employees to find a suitable replacement.

“Resident Evil” won, but faced resistance

Among dozens of suggestions, “Resident Evil” was chosen because it represents a clever play on words: the first chapter takes place in a mansion (“residence”), and evil (“evil”) inhabits that place. Simple, memorable and direct.

But not everyone celebrated. Kramer himself admitted to having voted against it, considering the name “too cheesy”, although he doesn’t remember which alternative he defended (“probably something absurd about zombies”, he said). The rest of the marketing team, however, approved enthusiastically and convinced both the Japanese parent company and Shinji Mikami, the game’s creator, that this was the way to go.

The person responsible for suggesting the name Resident Evil was a designer at Capcom Digital Studios, the company’s first development team based in the United States.

A practice that goes beyond Resident Evil

Renaming Japanese products for Western markets is a common strategy in the industry. In addition to brand conflicts, creative decisions and marketing recommendations come into play to maximize regional appeal. “The Evil Within”, for example, was released in Japan as “Psycho Break”, the opposite logic to that of Resident Evil.

More recently, SEGA carried out a rebranding: the “Yakuza” franchise was renamed “Like a Dragon” in the West, aligning itself with the original Japanese title “Ryu Ga Gotoku” (which literally means “like a dragon”). According to SEGA of America representative to Digital Trendsthe change seeks to “align itself more with the Japanese name”, an unusual move in already established brands, but which reflects growing cultural sensitivity.

The legacy of a double name

Unlike Yakuza, Resident Evil never underwent rebranding. The “Biohazard/Resident Evil” duality has persisted for three decades, functioning as a regional identity that fans respect. The hastily chosen name in 1994 not only escaped legal action, it became synonymous with survival horror.

Three decades later, fans still debate which title works best. Discussions on Reddit show that the majority consider “Resident Evil” more memorable and unique, while “Biohazard” would be “generic and bland”.

However, there are those who defend the Japanese name for narrative coherence. After all, the story revolves around secret laboratories and bio-organic weapons — elements that literally justify a “biohazard”. Even these defenders recognize that “Resident Evil” has superior marketing appeal, especially for its sound and wordplay with haunted mansions.

The curiosity of this division becomes even more evident in Resident Evil 7: Biohazardwhich in Japan is called Biohazard 7: Resident Evil — an inversion that made both names work simultaneously.

And you? Which do you prefer? Comment below.