It’s that time of the year again where game publishers begin posting results, and Capcom has some of those numbers to share. After shifting almost five million units, you’d think that Resident Evil 6 would be a reason to pop open some bubbly, but nothing could be further from the truth for that now maligned franchise, as Capcom has marked it as an official disappointment.
Selling 4.8 million units in total over various platforms, Capcom remarked that their signature 2012 title has been less than stellar in the sales department. “The flagship title Resident Evil 6 (for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360), despite recording brisk sales when it debuted, subsequently lost its momentum, resulting in the failure to achieve planned sales and fulfill its role as a driver of sales expansion,” the publisher said.
Mind you, the Resident Evil 5 managed to make it’s way into 6 million homes when it was released, while Dragon’s Dogma clocked in at 1.3 million copies sold. Normally, those are numbers to get excited about, but the bloated mess that it became resulted in Capcom attempting to put all their T-Virus eggs in one basket of mass genre tropes and clichés. And despite shifting numbers that most studios would kill for, it’s still a massive failure for Capcom.
There’s something seriously wrong with the industry when numbers like that are seen as a negative.
Also in the crosshairs, is the rather superb reboot of Devil May Cry from developer Ninja Theory, which has sold around 1.2 million units on console so far, which most likely also has the suits at Capcom considering making a Devil May Cry 5 so that they can shut the entitled crybabies up who most likely hamstrung a fine game with their incessant word of mouth bitching campaigns.
On the plus side, a game that most likely very few are playing locally, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, has been seen to be “successful”. It’s days like this that make me sad. I grew up with Resident Evil, and despite the fact that it had me evacuating my bowels at night from sheer terror, I still loved the game franchise.
Capcom needs to seriously rethink their strategy going forward with this franchise, because despite all the negative comments made, the last thing that I want is for the Resident Evil series to be canned. I want the game to succeed, but I’m only willing to reward Capcom with my cash if they can get identify the root of the problem with the franchise, and make something that fans want to play.
Yes, you can be different, and new at the same time. DmC has proven this. Hell, let give the franchise over to a western developer once again, because at least they seem to know what they’re doing.
Last Updated: February 5, 2013
