Highlights
- The 2019 Resident Evil 2 remake is now the best-selling game in the franchise, outselling even Resident Evil 7 and Village.
- The success of the RE2 remake paved the way for remakes of other older games like Resident Evil 3 and 4, each selling millions of units.
- Capcom shows no sign of stopping its RE output, with rumors of remakes for Resident Evil 0 and Code Veronica, as well as a potential Resident Evil 9 being in the works.
Capcom’s 2019 Resident Evil 2 remake has become the new best-selling game in the longstanding survival horror franchise. Capcom’s Resident Evil franchise is one of the most lucrative properties the company owns, with the franchise selling over 157 million units in total, including remakes and re-releases. The various Resident Evil remakes in particular have gotten a lot of love, managing to out-sell their original games across various platforms. These remakes likely wouldn’t have been possible without the success of one particular remake, that being the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2.
2019’s Resident Evil 2 was a remake of the 1998 original, with the sequel focusing on rookie cop Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield. The remake released to critical acclaim, with praise being given for its incredible faithfulness to the original version and its upgraded visuals. Capcom has recently revealed that the RE2 remake has now become the best-selling Resident Evil game, beating the likes of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Village.
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The official Capcom Dev 1 Twitter account revealed that the Resident Evil 2 remake managed to sell over 13.9 million copies, beating its last milestone of 10 million copies sold in July 2022. According to Statista, which compiled previous Resident Evil sales milestones, Resident Evil 2 managed to outsell 7 and Village, which are currently in second and third place respectively on the list. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard previously was the best-selling game in the franchise, having sold 13.3 million units by the end of December 2023.
Resident Evil 2 Remake is now the best-selling RE Game
Resident Evil 7 was considered a return to classic survival horror, after Capcom had pivoted hard into a more action-oriented style with prior entries like Resident Evil 5 and 6. This return to form helped pave the way for the Resident Evil 2 remake, which not only helped bring the series back into the spotlight, but also ended up kickstarting remakes of other older RE games, as seen with the Resident Evil 3 and 4 remakes in 2020 and 2023 respectively. The Resident Evil 3 remake sits at 8.7 million units sold, while the Resident Evil 4 remake sits at 7 million units sold.
Capcom isn’t slowing down the Resident Evil train, if reports are to be believed. There have been rumors that Capcom is remaking Resident Evil 0 and Code Veronica, the latter being a game that fans had wanted a remake of for years. On top of that, rumors of a Resident Evil 9 have also been swirling around, which will supposedly star legacy characters like Leon and Jill. That said, these three games are still unconfirmed, so fans should take them with a grain of salt until more official information is given.