Resident Evil 2 Remake PS5 Sales Double After Movie

Did you catch Zach Cregger's new Resident Evil movie? If so, you're not alone – and you might have helped boost sales of the games. According to Alinea Analytics, several Resident Evil titles saw a nice sales bump, especially on PS5, after Capcom rolled out well-timed discounts when the film hit theaters this month.

The movie, about a medical courier (played by Austin Abrams) who gets stuck in Raccoon City after dark, had the biggest opening in the 24-year history of Resi films. It's also the most successful video game movie yet with 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. And its blockbuster effect is spreading to the Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4 remakes.

When ignoring Capcom's franchise-wide discounts, data suggests Cregger's movie directly influenced a 64% and 54% uptick in PS5 sales for RE2 and RE4, respectively. "On Steam, the same movie effect is a much milder +11% to +14%," says Rhys Elliott, head of market analysis at Alinea.

In terms of pure player count, which includes people who already own the game jumping back in, Resident Evil 2's remake jumped 48% in daily players across PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. That's from about 78,000 daily active users to nearly 116,000. Its price was also chopped from $39.99 to a lucky $7.99.

Cregger told GamesRadar+ his movie unfolds "on the periphery" of Resident Evil 2's t-Virus outbreak, so it makes sense that RE2 benefits most. The 2019 remake's sales "nearly doubled on PS5," Elliott adds. Meanwhile, Resident Evil 3 remake's daily players are up 25%, and Resident Evil 4 remake's player count lifted 24%.

The new Resident Evil Requiem got a tinier bump with only a 20% daily player increase after the movie and discounts, but it didn't necessarily need the help. Elliott says, "Revenue-wise, [Requiem is] outpacing every other game in the franchise and will certainly leapfrog the Resident Evil 4 remake's $600M+ when all is said and done."

"Almost all the copy movement was on PlayStation," Elliott reminds us. Resident Evil players don't care about their Steam points, or maybe it's just that the franchise has been associated with PlayStation since its macabre beginning in 1998. But now that the franchise finally has a film that made me laugh and white-knuckle my popcorn bucket with equal intensity, there's no telling where it goes next.

Will you be picking up Resident Evil 2 remake at that $7.99 price? Or are you more curious about Requiem? Let us know in the comments!