Resident Evil Sets a New Record on Worldwide Sales

When it comes to thrilling horror games, people first tend to look at Resident Evil, also known as Biohazard in Japan, due to its unsettling atmosphere and the majority of characters being put through stressful situations. Capcom, the series developer, came up with the horror-inducing game back in 1996 with its series first title for the PlayStation. Back when horror games only consisted of dark themes and wouldn’t put too much pressure on the player, games like Alone in the Dark, debuted in 1992. Impressive for its time but rather clunky in executing the horror aspects.

Fast forward 30 years or so later, Resident Evil is doing great with 8 main games and spinoffs to support its main cast of stories. In each story, we’d be finding either the middle of the crisis or the crisis’ aftermath happening in the games. It might not be obvious but that is how Capcom was able to settle its lore very easily. While players could wander around in a world filled with human-affecting viruses in Resident Evil 4, for example, we’d be first to witness the virus in the first two games.

 

With the appreciation, comes the result of being successful. Capcom was able to get some great numbers off from Resident Evil series in the world thanks to its popular theme and flawless execution of dread and hopelessness in video games. According to Capcom, the series has sold over 154 million copies, including physical, re-releases, and digital versions of some titles. We know how Capcom was actually very hesitant to release Resident Evil 4 on every console ever, so it might be a tiny contributing factor to that enormous 154 million mark. Seriously, since its release in 2004, every console had its fair share of Resident Evil 4 port to some degree.

One of the other contributing factors to Resident Evil becoming more popular than ever is Capcom’s project of remaking and overhauling the classic games. Starting with the first game, Capcom saw the potential of how remaking old games would benefit everyone and made the series widely available. Now that the fourth game has been remade, Capcom asked players which game to remake first in their latest survey. In the logical sense, the next game should be 5, but people see the fifth game to be a turning point, in a bad way of course.

So most people would like some of the spinoffs, like Resident Evil: Code Veronica to be remade from scratch instead of Resident Evil 5 or 6. Nevertheless, Capcom knows how to move their cards right, and they were able to make a simple horror game for PS1 to become a huge franchise in the world.

Atilla Turan (@burningarrow)
Editor, NoobFeed