I'm seeing way more buzz and interest for this than RE7, and that sold pretty well. I can see this being a huge sales hit for capcom.
RE7 sold well because a lot of people made a lot of assumptions of what it would be before release (due to RE6 and it being first-person, one thing is a lot of people are really judgmental on first-person horror currently, which is a shame), but it released with glowing reviews, huge YouTube coverage (game really blew up with YouTube Let's Plays and Twitch Streams), and very positive word of mouth. Some like to point it under performed (was 0.5 million behind expectations), but it did great and I think Capcom set those expectations due to that being how much RE6 sold in the same timeframe. RE7 as a single-player first-person horror game as a new style many were skeptical for the franchise selling only 0.5 million behind a crazy online co-op action game is mighty impressive, and it's now in a little over a year's time sold over 5 million copies.
Horror game sales are a bit hard to talk about as horror hasn't been a popular AAA genre in over a decade. It is to note most horror-esque games in the last 5 years have done relatively well actually if developers kept their standards in check and planned for longer tails as horror games have longer tails in sales than most genres (The Evil Within 1 sold over 1 million in its first month and has to date sold over 4 million copies, Alien Isolation sold 1 million at launch but has sold over 2.5 million to date, Dying Light sold 2 million in first few months and has sold over 6 million a few years later, Until Dawn sold over 2 million in the first half a year, The Evil Within 2 has sold over 1 million copies in its first few months and may have gone past that since then). At the very least there is apparently 2 million or so people who buy AAA horror games within the first half a year or so of a game's release.
Resident Evil 2 Remake has a lot of cards in its court I think will help it sell. I said this a few days ago, but still think it:
How big are we expecting this game to be?
5M?
10M?
Just curious were expectations are at. Franchise has been declining in sales since 5 with 7 only hitting the 5M mark.
You've got the time frames wrong. RE5 only recently (like last couple years) reached over 10 million, it didn't perform 10 million on launch. You're comparing how RE5 has done over 9 years to how RE7 has done in in less than a year and a half. I'd need to dig to get exact number, but if I recall RE5 sold 2-3 million in its first month (which was essentially the fiscal year as RE5 launched in March). RE7 was comparable by selling 3.5 million in 3 months. However, RE5 was releasing as the sequel to RE4, so anticipation was high, while RE7 was releasing as the sequel to RE6, so anticipation was low. RE5 also was co-op and played similarly to RE4, while RE7 was single player and was an entirely new gameplay style for the series. RE6 sold well despite critically bombing.
REmake 2 has at least nine tricks up its sleeves in terms of how it'll perform.
01. It is a remake of a beloved classic, a classic which sold over 5 million copies back in the 90s and holds nostalgic value being over 20-years old.
02. The game is releasing on the heels of RE7, a game that was very well received and restored more consumers faith in the brand.
03. BUT for those who disliked the first-person perspective of the previous entry, it also is a return to third person, which some consumers want.
04. The game has high production values that shine through to many. People like shiny things, and REmake 2 looks better than RE7 before it.
05. The game actively is appealing to two user-bases; it has enough atmosphere, good sound design, survival emphasis, classic series staples, and disturbing enemies to appeal to horror fans, while enough good gameplay, visceral violence, detailed hit reaction, and interesting combat scenarios for action fans. It being able to strike more successfully than past entries with these two userbases at once will benefit it.
06. While tapping into RE2 nostalgia, it's also tapping into RE4 nostalgia, another of many people's favorite game of the series and even all time for a number of people. It's the first single-player focused game of its type since RE4, and one with a focus on the atmosphere like RE4 had.
07. It had an incrediably successful unveiling at E3 and benefited both from being one of the few surprises at Sony's conference and having a good demo. This is a case where I think Sony's new presentation style directly benefited Capcom. Also Capcom had the DMC5 reveal the day before this, which I think the two titles benefit rather than hurt the other from being unveiled and releasing closely together. Spaced out enough not to get in the others way, but close enough they may signal boost each other.
08. Early press and people who've played it at E3 are glowing about the game, making early word spread from the get-go.
09. The game's smaller announcement > release cycle benefits it heavily, ESPECIALLY as another beloved classic being remade (FFVII) announced right before REmake 2, is stalling and hasn't shown anything since its reveal. Meanwhile Capcom is almost done and releasing a very fine looking remake before the other comparable remake output even shows anything more, so Capcom gets free publicity and positive spins due to Square's failure there.
I think it's definitely going to perform better than RE7 with all of this in mind. I'm predicting 5 million the fiscal year, over 8 million for the first actual year.
