Resident Evil 2 surpasses RE5 as series' best-selling game

Move over, Chris Redfield, Claire and Leon are taking your spot on the podium. As part of Capcom’s quarterly earnings report, the company released updated sales figures for several of its biggest games, revealing that Resident Evil 2'sremake has dethroned Resident Evil 5 as the series’ best-selling title.

In Capcom's last earnings report, Resident Evil 5 was listed as having sold 19.01 million copies across its original release and its remaster on PlayStation 4, Switch, and Xbox One. Resident Evil 2 (2019) has now outpaced that figure, after hitting 19.75 million.

In the eyes of many series veterans, Resident Evil 2’s success is probably a vindication. The game is often praised for pulling off a near-flawless balancing act between new and old, as it utilizes Resident Evil 4’s genre-defining camera angle and feel, while combining this with the series’ more slow-paced exploratory roots. Resident Evil 5, on the other hand, is often viewed as a tipping point that took the series too far in an action-oriented direction, setting the stage for a maligned sequel, Resident Evil 6, that went all-in on spectacle.

Still, it’s undeniably impressive that the 2009 game managed to hit such lofty numbers. The game’s success is part of why some assume Capcom will eventually remake Resident Evil 5, despite rumors that "there is no plan to remake RE5/RE6 right now."

The Resident Evil series made up most of the company’s top 10 unit sales rankings for the last quarter, taking seven positions on the chart. Pragmata claimed the number one spot with 2.51 million in its debut quarter. It was closely followed by the Resident Evil 4 remake (2.43 million) and Resident Evil 2 (1.42 million), both of which continue to have long tails. Despite its mixed reputation, Resident Evil 6 took the number 10 spot with 710,000 sales. Resident Evil remains Capcom’s highest-selling series of all time, with 213 million units sold. Monster Hunter is second with 131 million, and Street Fighter is at 60 million. Despite being a bit neglected, Mega Man is in fourth, and Devil May Cry is in fifth, spurred by Devil May Cry 5’s 14.24 million sold.

Overall, Capcom’s recent success at consistently releasing well-received single-player games feels like an anomaly in a game industry where publishers are increasingly chasing live-service home runs. The company looks to follow up on the positive reception to this year's Resident Evil: Requiemand Pragmata with Onimusha: Way of the Sword when it arrives on Sept. 4.

There’s plenty more Resident Evil in the immediate future as well. We’ll be getting Zach Cregger’s exciting Resident Evil movie on Sept. 18. Next year, Capcom is releasing the highly anticipated Resident Evil - Code: Veronica remake.