Capcom’s flagship IP continues to go from strength to strength.
Following an internal reboot of the franchise triggered by Resident Evil 6‘s poor critical reception, the survival horror experience all about nefarious corporations, engineered viruses and the walking dead has entered something of a second golden age kickstarted by RE 7. The latter, a soft reboot that made the ballsy decision to drop traditional perspective for a more immersive first-person camera, now stands tall as the best-selling entry to date at 8.5 million units. A substantial achievement, then, considering the seventh installment only just celebrated its third anniversary, but far from the only noteworthy development.
As part of its latest updating of ‘Platinum Titles,’ Capcom has confirmed that 2019’s Resident Evil 2 remake is now the second best-selling in the series, an honor it jointly shares with 2009’s Resident Evil 5. As of writing, both have sold in the order of 7.8 million copies, though we can only imagine the former’s total will continue to rise for some time yet.
In terms of how all of the above stacks up against the studio’s entire back catalog, 2018’s Monster Hunter World maintains its comfortable lead in pole position with a whopping 16.8 million recorded sales across Xbox, PlayStation and PC, though Resident Evil is the overall victor, making up half of the top 10 highest-selling titles.
Overwhelmingly good news, then, and it’ll be fascinating to see how Resident Evil Village stacks up against the competition when it arrives on May 7th for current and last-gen consoles. The number of available platforms could well prove to be perfect conditions for Ethan Winters’ return and all signs point to it being every bit an instant classic. For all the latest Village details, including a first look at gameplay, see here.
