Resident Evil 2 ships 3 million in 4 days

Capcom has globally shipped three million copies of its Resident Evil 2 remake since its launch last week, suggesting its well on its way to match – or even smash – sales of the original 1998 Resident Evil 2, which sold a little under 5 million in its lifetime. This takes the series’ cumulative sales to more than 88 million units sold since it debuted in 1996.

Capcom used "its cutting-edge R&D facilities" to rebuild the game from the ground up for current-generation platforms, combining what it self-describes as "photo-realistic graphics made possible with RE Engine" with "audio featuring Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 and real-time sound image rendering that utilises binaural technology".

Consequently, Capcom says it remains "firmly committed to satisfying the expectations of all stakeholders" and "continuous support from the passionate fan base across the globe makes [Resident Evil] Capcom’s flagship game series".

Capcom’s free "1-Shot" Resident Evil 2 demo has been downloaded over two million times, too. According to Capcom’s own statistics, the demo – which gives players a single opportunity to get through a tense, half-hour segment of its the Resident Evil 2 remake – has been downloaded just shy of three million times at the time of writing, with 25 per cent of players making it all the way through until the end.

Capcom’s off to a strong start this year as Resident Evil 7: Biohazard re-entered the charts at No.28 with a 68 per cent rise in sales as players got ready for the release of Resident Evil 2, which has become Capcom’s biggest launch since Resident Evil 7. This comes after a record-breaking 2018 for Capcom, which doubled its profits for the first half of this fiscal year largely thanks to Monster Hunter: World, which has now become Capcom’s biggest selling game of all-time.

Topping 10 million shipments in the second quarter of this year – owed, in part, to the long-awaited release of Monster Hunter: World on PC – the action-RPG has hit a record high for the Japanese publisher and developer, prompting a 70 per cent year-on-year increase in H1 revenue to ¥34.2 billion ($305 million) and boosting Capcom’s operating profit to ¥11.8 billion ($105 million), a 207 per cent increase on the previous year. Net profit rose 97% to ¥6.8 billion ($61 million).

Launched in January 2018, Monster Hunter: World shifted 5 million units during its opening weekend, hitting 7.5 million copies sold by March 31st. Of course, Capcom’s success isn’t solely attributable to Monster Hunter: World; Resident Evil VII, Monster Hunter XX on Switch (a Japan-only title) and Switch-exclusive Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers also contributed to Capcom’s solid fiscal performance.

These profits come despite the closure of Dead Rising studio Capcom Vancouver earlier this year, for which the publisher had anticipated losses of ¥4.5 billion after the termination of projects already in development, resulting in 158 job losses.