Resident Evil Requiem producer Masachika Kawata spoke about the game's development in a special issue of Biohazard magazine dedicated to the series' 30th anniversary. According to him, Leon was one of the first confirmed protagonists, but the team decided to add a new character.
Leon was also the first character approved for the main role. However, we decided that with Leon alone, who is excellent at combat tasks, 'horror would no longer work,' so we decided to introduce Grace as a new character.
Kawata also explained why Leon was shown only at a late stage of the advertising campaign: the developers wanted to maintain intrigue around the horror component, focusing more on Grace in the first trailers.
Initially, director Koushi Nakanishi considered an online game format. The team abandoned this idea because it did not meet fan expectations, and returned to developing the concept from scratch.
Resident Evil Requiem was released on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2. Game sales exceeded 8 million copies.