Japanese Dino Crisis Trademark Appears, Possibly Pointing to New Game

Capcom has been on a roll lately with successful releases like Monster Hunter: World, Devil May Cry 5, Resident Evil 2, and Mega Man 11. The Japanese company might be preparing for yet another major release if a recent trademark for the long-dormant Dino Crisis franchise is anything to go by. The trademark was filed in Japan on November 29, 2019 and published today, December 17, 2019.

It’s important to note that companies file for trademarks as a way to protect their IPs all the time, so this doesn’t confirm Dino Crisis is returning. Many times, companies will either file for a trademark as a “just in case” for something that may not ever see the light of day. This prevents other companies from using the trademark. With Capcom bringing back classics and dormant franchises recently, it’s not too farfetched to think we might see the return of the once-popular dinosaur horror game.

This marks the second time Capcom has filed for a Dino Crisis trademark recently, with the company being granted one for the series back on December 28, 2018.

The first game in the series, aptly titled Dino Crisis, debuted for the original PlayStation in 1999 and went on to sell more than 2 million copies. It was followed by Dino Crisis 2 in 2000 and Dino Crisis 3 in 2003. Since then, no new entries have released, marking more than 16 years since the last installment.

There have been rumors circulating that point to a Dino Crisis followup for modern consoles, but nothing has been officially confirmed by Capcom. In December of 2017, Capcom’s development team tweeted out an image of Dino Crisis with the caption “if a lot of people wish” accompanying it. Between that and the trademarks, the series is at least on the company’s mind.