Capcom announces thatResident Evil 7has shipped a total of 3 million units worldwide and also discusses the box office success of theResident Evilfilm franchise.
Releasing to critical acclaim andshipping 2.5 million unitsin its first week on sale,Resident Evil 7has been a successful venture for Capcom in a number of ways. The game’s success has continued two weeks since launch, with Capcom shipping 500,000 more copies of the game to retailers worldwide, bringing the total number of copies ofResident Evil 7out in the wild up to 3 million.
Capcom revealed these updated numbers in a recentpress releasethat highlighted strong numbers for not onlyResident Evil 7, but the recently released filmResident Evil: The Final Chapter. Even thoughResident Evil: The Final Chapterhas earned poor reviews from critics, it has passed $120 million at the worldwide box office, more than tripling its production budget in the process. The success of the film has cementedResident Evilas the highest grossing game-to-film adaptation series of all time, pushing the franchise’s total box office gross over the $1 billion mark.
These numbers are impressive for sure, but it’s worth noting that they aren’t necessarily as strong as Capcom was hoping. For example,Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, while still a box office success, had the weakest debut of any other film in the series.Resident Evil 7, meanwhile, has failed to match the initial shipping numbers of its predecessors, withResident Evil 5and6shipping 4 and 4.5 million copies in their first weeks respectively.
Resident Evil 7is still a success, thoughCapcom’s shares fellwhen it became apparent that the game wasn’t going to be quite as popular as the previous games in the series. There are a number of possible explanations as to whyResident Evil 7hasn’t shipped as many copies as the games that came before it. Perhaps consumers were skeptical about its switch to afirst-person viewpointand focus on horror over action. Alternatively, the poor critical reception ofResident Evil 6may have made some fans lose faith in theResident Evilbrand.
While it may not have had as strong of a launch week asResident Evil5or6,Resident Evil 7still has a chance to meet Capcom’s expectations. In an investors report last quarter, Capcom said that it expectedResident Evil 7toship 4 million units by the end of the fiscal year, which is March 31st. That gives Capcom about a month and a half to ship 1 million more copies ofResident Evil 7to retailers, a goal that is still feasible at this point.
Resident Evil 7has proven to be a popular game so far, and as Capcom releases more content for it, it could convince reluctant gamers to finally buy the game. Capcom has already released someStephen King-inspired DLCforResident Evil 7, and there’s even more paid DLC on the way, in addition to a free story expansion that promises to have huge ramifications forResident Evillore. While it’s hard to say definitively, new content like that could be enough to convince those burned byResident Evil 6to giveResident Evil 7a chance.
Resident Evil 7is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
