Topic: RE: RE4 Reaches Half-Million Milestone

[NewsBot]

500,000 units have been shipped. 500,000 units of EVIL!

CAPCOM Ā®ā€™S RESIDENT EVIL Ā®  4 SURPASSES RETAIL MILESTONE    

Latest Entry in Capcomā€™s Flagship Series Exceeds 500,000 Units in Sales    

SUNNYVALE, Calif. - June 6, 2005 ā€” Capcomā€™s Resident EvilĀ® 4 , the critically acclaimed survival horror masterpiece for the Nintendo GameCubeā„¢, has sold more than half a million units since its debut on January 11.  According to The NPD Groupā€™s sales tracking report, the game claimed the number one position for its launch month of January this year and sales have continued to hold strong.  The NPD Groupā€™s most recent report, which monitors sales data through April 2005, confirms that the game has surpassed the 500,000 mark through its successful cumulative sales in the U.S. and Canada.  In addition, the report reinforces the strength of the Resident Evil series on the GameCube with Resident EvilĀ® , Resident Evil 4 , and Resident EvilĀ® Ƙ (Zero) holding the positions as the top three ā€œMā€ rated titles for the system with combined sales of more than 1.5 million units in the U.S. and Canada.    

Based on the popular Resident Evil series, which has sold more than 26 million units worldwide and is Capcomā€™s highest selling series, Resident Evil 4 sees the return of a familiar hero on a mission of the highest level.  Resident Evil 4 carries an ā€œMā€ rating for mature audiences by the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) and will also be released for the PlayStation  2 computer entertainment system later this year.    

ā€œWith Resident Evil 4 , the series and the entire survival horror genre have been advanced to a whole new level,ā€ said Todd Thorson, director of marketing, Capcom Entertainment.  ā€œItā€™s been rewarding to see that the incredible response the game has received from fans and critics has been mirrored by a phenomenal retail performance.ā€

[Ian Sane]

It's nice to see that despite the Cube's smaller userbase and the stereotype that third party games don't sell on the Cube and Capcom's rather bizarre attempts to sabotage the Cube version's sales in favour of the PS2 version (they have predicting several million sales for the PS2 version) that this game is still selling pretty well.  See how that works?  Give the Nintendo userbase a fantastic third party game that actually makes use of the hardware and the game sells well.  It's a shame because this probably would have sold way better had Capcom not screwed Nintendo over by announcing the PS2 port before the Cube version's release.

I'm now predicting that the PS2 version will sell around 300,000 or so.  Maybe more if Cube RE4 sales go up a lot before then.  It's a rule that any third party game that gets ported from the Cube sells considerably worse on the PS2.  Of course Capcom will then somehow use the dismal PS2 sales to justify moving the RE series back to the Playstation brand for next generation.  Blaming Nintendo fans on poor PS2 sales is also part of the "rule".

[couchmonkey]

I believe the PS2 version will match or outsell the Cube version, though not by a wide margin.  Just look at those numbers...26 million copies sold worldwide, with probably less than 4.5 million being on the Cube (based on the combined sales of 1.5 million in North America).

Still, I'm glad to hear that, and I'm glad Capcom hasn't just shut up about the GameCube version.  I'm hoping that they re-promote the Cube version when the PS2 version is released.

[The Omen]

Yeah, the Ps2 version will sell at least 300,000 just because of how well the GC game is rated.  However, looking at the degrading graphics of the Ps2 version, perhaps all will be well with the universe, and it'll sell horrendously.

[Ian Sane]

"I believe the PS2 version will match or outsell the Cube version, though not by a wide margin. Just look at those numbers...26 million copies sold worldwide, with probably less than 4.5 million being on the Cube (based on the combined sales of 1.5 million in North America)."

You would assume that with any game because of the userbase size difference but it's not the case.  Viewtiful Joe for example bombed hard on the PS2 and although VJ2 sold very poorly period the Cube version still outsold the PS2 one.  I believe Tales of Symphonia in Japan did the same thing.  All gamers aren't the same and the userbases of the three consoles have different tastes and attitudes.  So a game can be a big hit on one console and then completely bomb on another regardless of userbase.

Plus one thing that third parties never take into account is that on the PS2 they have to compete with tons of other high profile exclusive third party games.  On the Cube a major third party exclusive is a big deal so they stand out better.  On the Cube Resident Evil 4 is a big fish in a little lake.  On the PS2 it's a big fish in a massive ocean.  This mentality is why Team Ninja is such a big deal on the Xbox.  There's no Tekken or Virtua Fighter so DOA becomes the main fighting game series on the Xbox by default.  It's the same with Ninja Gaiden which doesn't have to compete with Devil May Cry or Shinobi.  This mentality is why Acclaim was able to sell N64 games but went broke as a multiplatform publisher.  On the N64 games like Extreme G and Turok were third party exclusives on a console with weak third party support so they received a lot of attention.  As multiplatform titles these same franchises didn't stand out and didn't sell (though the quality of said titles played a part as well).