The Resident Evil series has become Capcom’s first franchise to sell over 100 million units worldwide, the publisher has announced.
Capcom announced the impressive stat following the reveal of Resident Evil VIII Village during Sony’s PS5 reveal event some hours ago. According to the press release, more than 80% of the sales (more than 80 million units) are from outside Japan. The first installment was released for the original PlayStation back in 1996, and the publisher’s most recent re-release (Resident Evil 3 Remake) dates from April of this year.
We’ve included Capcom’s official press release down below:
Capcom Co., Ltd. (Capcom) today announced that cumulative shipments of the Resident Evil series have exceeded 100 million units worldwide.
In 1996 Capcom established the survival horror game genre with the series’ debut title, Resident Evil, which featured gameplay in which players utilize a variety of weapons and other items to escape terrifying situations. Through the years Capcom has leveraged its Single Content Multiple Usage strategy to take the series beyond games, expanding the brand into Hollywood film adaptations and theme park attraction collaborations. The Resident Evil franchise has since grown into Capcom’s flagship property, continuously supported by a passionate fan base from across the globe since the first title was released 24 years ago, with more than 80% of unit sales of the games coming from outside of Japan.
In recent years, Capcom has pursued a digital sales strategy, expanding its customer segments by extending the life of games with flexible pricing strategies in more than 250 different countries and regions. For the Resident Evil series in particular, becoming the first Capcom series to surpass the 100-million-units-sold milestone came as a result of a number of factors; in addition to maintaining a consistent release schedule for new titles, Capcom utilized cutting-edge technology to reimagine beloved hits, such as with Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3, while carrying out price promotions for back catalog titles timed in conjunction with new title launches. Going forward Capcom looks to further grow the franchise by leveraging its accumulated knowhow to launch games on next-generation platforms. This includes the recently announced latest core game in the series, Resident Evil Village, the sequel to the cumulative 7.5-million-unit selling Resident Evil 7 biohazard.
The freshly-announced RE (VIII) Village is released next year for PC and the next-gen consoles. An exact release date has to be revealed, but recent rumors suggest that the title is releasing somewhere between January and March.
