The legendary Resident Evil series has generated a metric boatload of cash for developer Capcom, making it their most successful franchise ever with combined 85 million units sold as of 2018.
As we approach the launch of Resident Evil 2 remake, which could prove to be the biggest launch in the series’ history, we thought now would be a great time to look back on the 5 best selling Resident Evil games of all time.
Best Selling Resident Evil Games
Operation Racoon City – 2.7 million units sold
Kicking off our list is the black sheep of the Resident Evil family, Operation Racoon City. Setting a cooperative action game in the universe of Resident Evil seems like a great idea on paper, but there was much to be desired in its execution.
Interestingly, Operation Racoon City is non-canon and considered to be a hypothetical what-if scenario. It takes place during the events of Resident Evil 2 & 3 and follows a team of paramilitary mercenaries operating in Racoon City during its downfall.
The game was met with fairly negative critical reception, but despite this sold respectably. Complaints of poor AI, glitches and unimaginative design were common, and while Capcom declared the title a financial success, the development team said that they found the game’s reception “challenging”.
Best Selling Resident Evil Games
Resident Evil – Code: Veronica – 2.745 million units sold
Resident Evil – Code: Veronica is the result of an unsuccessful attempt to port Resident Evil 2 to the Sega Saturn. It was intended to be its true sequel and is still referred to as such by its creators, and what we now know as Resident Evil 3 was going to be a spin-off title.
Set several months after the events of Resident Evil 2, Code: Veronica follows siblings Claire and Chris Redfield attempting to survive a viral outbreak at a remote prison facility located in the Southern Ocean, and later in Antarctica.
Code: Veronica was the first RE title to use 3D real-time backgrounds, eschewing the pre-rendered art of earlier titles. It also a more European gothic horror aspect in its art and writing style, setting it apart from other titles in the series and giving it a unique flavor.
Best Selling Resident Evil Games
Resident Evil 0 – 3.2 million units sold
Resident Evil 0, like its name implies, is a prequel to the series and sets the foundation for what would follow. It tells the story of the S.T.A.R.S Bravo team, who are most notable for being torn apart during the intro cinematic to the original 1996 Resident Evil.
The protagonists are Rebecca Chambers, the Bravo team’s medic, and Billy Coen, an escaped convict. The unlikely pairing finds themselves forced to rely upon each other to escape an Umbrella pharmaceutical testing facility.
This title is perhaps most notable for its unique “partner zapping system” which allows the player to take control of both Rebecca and Billy independently of each other and is used to great effect during some of the tougher puzzle sections of the game.
Best Selling Resident Evil Games
Resident Evil 3 – 3.5 million units sold
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis is best known for the titular Nemesis, and while a little shorter in length than the average RE title, it is something of a cult favorite. It was originally intended to be a spin-off, with a greater emphasis on the action.
The Nemesis itself is a fascinating concept, a persistent boss that would be encountered multiple times and who pursue the player relentlessly. The best you could hope to do was delay the Nemesis, and he would test your resources and skills to the limit.
RE 3 takes place before and during the events of Resident Evil 2, following Jill Valentine’s attempt to escape from Racoon City, and from the biological weapon specifically designed to hunt down and eliminate any remaining S.T.A.R.S operatives.
Best Selling Resident Evil Games
Resident Evil – 5.3 million units sold
Where it all began. 1996’s Resident Evil is a seminal title that continues to influence the industry to this day. It popularised the survival-horror genre, introducing an entire generation to a kind of gameplay that would be synonymous with horror for decades to come.
Players have the choice of two protagonists, stepping into the boots of either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine, members of an elite task force known as S.T.A.R.S. They find themselves trapped inside an abandoned mansion after being attacked by vicious dogs on the outskirts of Racoon City.
Little do they realize that the horror they faced outside would be as nothing compared to the nightmares that await them inside the seemingly abandoned mansion. Their journey to find their missing comrades, and to escape with their lives, would go down in history as one of gaming’s most defining tales
Best Selling Resident Evil Games
Resident Evil 7 BIOHAZARD – 5.4 million units sold
Resident Evil 7 represents a new generation of horror, making some big changes to a formula that has worked for more than 2 decades. Gone are the fixed camera angles and tank controls of the early series (1-3), gone too is the over the top, run-and-gun action of the mid-series (4-6).
RE 7 has, for the most part, taken the best of both era’s and honed in on what this series is at its core: a terrifying exploration of the unknown. Creeping through the Baker’s homestead retained all the right shades of the Spencer Mansion’s tension, with you never truly knowing what you might find around the next corner.
Ditching the early series stagnant control scheme and camera setup for something more modern, and replacing the mid-series more ridiculous villains with a cast that is somewhat believable, make RE 7 an incredibly hopeful entry in the series.
And with such strong sales numbers, a numbered sequel in this style is almost a certainty. We can’t wait to see where this series goes next.
Best Selling Resident Evil Games
Resident Evil 2 – 6.1 million units sold
For many, Resident Evil 2 is the quintessential RE experience. This entry in the series was the debut of fan-favorite protagonists Leon S Kennedy and Claire Redfield, and their intertwining tale of survival amidst the collapse of Racoon City is central to the overarching narrative, with many other titles taking place simultaneously or immediately before/after.
Releasing to critical acclaim, RE 2 sold incredibly well after its debut in 1998, breaking previous records set by Final Fantasy VII and Super Mario 64 to become the fastest selling video game in North America.
Over the years, the foyer of the RCPD has become as iconic as the entrance hall of the Spencer Mansion, and Leon and Claire just as popular characters as Chris and Jill, if not more so.
With the upcoming release of the Resident Evil 2 remake (Jan 26), a whole new generation will get to experience the horror and the excitement of the fall of Racoon City.
Best Selling Resident Evil Games
Resident Evil 4 – 8.2 million units sold
If Resident Evil 7 was a seismic shift for the RE series, then Resident Evil 4 was a tsunami that rocked the entire video game industry. It pioneered what we now know as the third person shooter, and is widely considered to be one of the best and most influential video games ever created.
Originally released on the GameCube in 2005, RE 4 has been re-released numerous times, playable on virtually every platform since. Leon’s harrowing journey to Spain to save the presidents daughter, who has been abducted by a mysterious cult was an instant classic, and this bold new action based gameplay would inform the direction of the series for years to come.
Its focus on the act of shooting and context-sensitive interactions with the environment were a far cry from the tank controls of previous iterations. This added mobility allowed developer Capcom to bring all kinds of new threats to the player, with its horrific chainsaw-armed sequences being a true standout.
Best Selling Resident Evil Games
Resident Evil 6 – 10 million units sold
Resident Evil 6 is the black sheep of the RE series: despite selling incredibly well, it has something of a bad reputation amongst longtime fans. On paper, the idea for what RE 6 was sound, protagonists from each of the different entries in the series coming together to face a larger threat. In practice, it became something of a mess.
Each characters story arc played out like a representation of the different eras in the series history: Leon’s campaign had more of a horror focus, whereas Chris’s campaign played like a straight up action game. This, in conjunction with the series newfound focus on co-operative gameplay, results in a game that doesn’t feel like it knows what it wants to be.
It seems Capcom took the reaction to the general tone of RE 6 onboard. With Resident Evil 7 they took the series in what was apparently a less commercially successful direction, but one that was received far more positively by critics and fans alike.
Best Selling Resident Evil Games
Resident Evil 5 – 12.1 million units sold
The bestselling title in the Resident Evil series is, of course, Resident Evil 5. Continuing down the path that RE 4 had set before it, the best-selling title featured more of an action focus than previous entries, without going completely off the deep end ala Resident Evil 6.
RE 5 was the first entry in the series to introduce co-operative play, which the majority of its puzzles were based around. If playing solo, a partner character controlled by the AI accompanies you. While the game was received well by critics, longtime fans felt that having a companion character took away from the tension of earlier games.
There was some controversy to the game’s release, with allegations of racism being leveled at the development team. With RE 5 taking place in a fictional province of Africa, the majority of the enemies encountered are of African descent. The game was submitted to the British Board of Film Classification for review, and they found that there were no issues regarding racism.
All sales data in this article was taken from VGSales.com, which collates official sales information released by Capcom.
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