Resident Evil Franchise Has Sold Over 90 Million Copies Worldwide

Capcom is home to a bevy of world-renowned games, yet it is the Resident Evil series that has stood above the rest. In an announcement from Capcom itself, the company has stated that Resident Evil has sold over 90 million copies starting from 1996. The franchise has seen eight mainline Resident Evil games going from Resident Evil 0 to Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. Resident Evil also has several spin-offs and remakes, bringing their grand total to 33 separate games.

Resident Evil 5 remains as the game that has sold the most individual copies, while Resident Evil 4 holds the highest critical acclaim of the franchise. Overall, Resident Evil is Capcom’s pride and joy of their company.

Capcom saw a large spike in sales from the Resident Evil 2 remake, which sold over 3 million units in the first week of release. It also sold second in Japan behind Kingdom Hearts III and debuted at the top in the UK. This was Capcom’s best launch since Resident Evil 7 in terms of physical sales.

Resident Evil 2 Remake cover art. Credit to Capcom.

The Resident Evil franchise traces its roots from a number of influences. Notably, the first Resident Evil was first conceived as a remake to Capcom’s PC RPG Sweet Home. They could not reuse the name Sweet Home as a DOS game had recently been trademarked. Capcom held a contest for the name and eventually came up with Resident Evil.

Resident Evil was also heavily influenced by Alone in the Dark, a 1992 PC game developed by Infogrames. Alone in the Dark was one of the first games to have fixed camera angles. The game also involves heavy puzzle-solving and managing item inventory.

Capcom looks to improve on these numbers by bringing Resident Evil 0, 1, and 4 to the Nintendo Switch this coming May.