The first-week physical sales of Resident Evil Village were the series’ worst in Japan in nearly two decades.
The latestFamitsuboxed game sales data shows that thePS4andPS5versions of the game combined sold 149,884 copies in the first week in Japan, which is significantly less than the 231,188Resident Evil7: Biohazard managed in 2017.
As shown by historical sales data held onGame Data Library, the only times a main entry in the Resident Evil series had a worse opening weekend were the original Resident Evil onPlayStation(which sold 148,904 copies) andResident Evil 4(which sold 145,533 copies when it was aGameCubeexclusive).
Recent instalmentsResident Evil 3(189,490) andResident Evil 2(265,324) also enjoyed stronger debuts in Japan.
Launch week retail sales of Resident Evil Village are the lowest for a mainline RE title in Japan since the original release of RE4 on the GameCube, third lowest of the series, barely on par with that and the original game.35% drop from Resident Evil 7.pic.twitter.com/onZTL100Bl
It’s worth noting that Famitu’s sales data only covers physical copies, and digital sales will be much higher in 2021 than in previous years, likely pushing Village’s first week much higher up the series’ sales rankings.
UPDATE 14/05/21:According to Japan-based analyst and investment adviser David Gibson, Resident Evil Village also sold some 150,000 units digitally in Japan, for around 300,000 copies in total.
Well actually we know that around 10% of the 3m global shipment was Japan, so that means 150k physical and 150k digital in Japan for total 300k approx. Not so bad.https://t.co/1TfkZxPJw4
ORIGINAL STORY CONTINUES:Many regions of Japan are alsocurrently in a State of Emergency, and it’s possible that Village’s first-person perspective also impacted sales, since FPS games have historically struggled in Japan.
Outside ofCapcom‘s home market, Village enjoyed a strong first-week performance. According to the publisher, Villageshipped over 3 million units worldwidein its first four days on sale.
Capcom’s figure means that Village is tracking ahead of previous instalments Resident Evil 3 (2 million in five days) and Resident Evil 7 (2.5 million in four days). It’s also matched 2019’s Resident Evil 2, which also took four days to ship 3 million units.
Village alsorecorded the second biggest physical launch week of 2021in the UK to date, behind onlySuper Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury.
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It alsoenjoyed a strong debut on PC, comfortably smashing the series’ record for concurrent players onSteam.
Capcom has said it hopes Village will become the franchise’s best-selling entry, following strong sales of the game’s last numbered entry (8.5m), which is its no. 1 title.
“Our main ambition for this year, although there’s so much going on at the same time, is to make sureResident Evil: Villagewill be the best-performing Resident Evil title, both in terms of quality as well as business,” Capcom’s EMEA marketing director Antoine Molanttold GI.bizin March.
VGC’sResident Evil Village reviewcalls Capcom’s horror adventure “a deliciously hammy hybrid of past glories, with some real series highs”.
