Resident Evil 4 was a special game for Capcom. The game was not only a huge hit for the company, but it also revitalized what many thought was a stagnant franchise and garnered many 'Game of the Year' awards. Resident Evil 4 was so well received, incorporating gameplay features that have been ripped off relentlessly by other titles, that many consider it among the greatest games of all time.
Because of this, Resident Evil 5 had a lot to live up to. If critical consensus is to be believed, the game won't snatch as many yearly awards come December as its predecessor did. That hasn't put a damper on the consumer reaction, however. The fans have made Resident Evil 5 one of the biggest hits of 2009 thus far.
We spoke with Mike Webster, Director of Marketing for Capcom, before we plunged right into the heart of Kijuju.
Jeez, how much gold can one game make?
According to the NPD, Resident Evil 5 was the first and fourth best selling title for the month of March. This made the game the best selling title on both the PS3 and Xbox 360 platforms. The PS3 version saw nearly 600k in sales, with the Xbox 360 version selling over 900k, with total sales of Resident Evil 5 at nearly 1.5 million copies.
"...based on sales of RE5 we are way ahead of the very successful RE4."
"While our expectations for RE5 were always high, consumer response in the U.S. and around the world has been phenomenal," said Webster. "I think we are most excited about the fact that we are growing the Resident Evil fan base with every Resident Evil release. Forecasted sales has the RE fan base doubling or even tripling this year. Given the strong cross-ownership the PS3 and X360 has with the Wii ( up to 45% depending on the study you read) this allows us to market upcoming games like RE: Archives and RE: The Darkside Chronicles to a larger fan base looking for more Resident Evil content."
Of course, Resident Evil 5 has to live up to the very high sales standard set by its predecessor, Resident Evil 4. That game was unique in that it released on GCN, PS2 and Wii months and years apart from each other, with each version achieving success in its own right and eventually accruing over six million in sales combined. Still, Webster is very pleased with where Resident Evil 5 is at the moment.
"As you know Resident Evil 4 is one of our top sellers and was critical to the success or RE5," ventured Webster. "Much of our marketing campaign focused around mobilizing our RE fan base. RE4's success expanded that base from our previous offerings. We challenged our agency Ayzenberg to create a campaign that would provide the core exclusive content in a platform that would easily allow them to share it virally. Ayzenberg delivered and when it was all said and done we had reached Resident Evil fans from Manhattan to Milan (and even some out of the way places – RE is huge in Tonga – who knew?!?!). And they did exactly what fans do, they tell their friends and try to make them fans. We estimate that every person that hit our viral site shared content with an average of 25 other people. Some of them already RE fans, some of them not, but based on sales of RE5 we are way ahead of the very successful RE4."
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