Capcom’s latest survival horror sequel is the second biggest video game launch of the year, as the PS5 versions outsells the PS4.
There was no doubt about what would be the UK number one this week but Resident Evil Village has done particularly well in the physical charts, with the biggest debut outside of Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury.
It also saw 49% of its sales go to the PlayStation 5 version, the first time that the next gen edition has outsold the last gen version of a multiformat (as opposed to first party) game in the UK – with the PlayStation 4 on 31% and Xbox on 20%.
That’s an indication that, despite the stock problems, there are now a substantial number of PlayStation 5 consoles in the UK, even amongst the more casual users that tend to prefer physical purchases over digital.
Resident Evil Village also becomes the third biggest PlayStation launch so far, behind only Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. According to GamesIndustry.biz it’s already the seventh biggest game on PlayStation 5 so far, after only one week of sales (behind also Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Demon’s Souls, Watch Dogs Legion, and Sackboy: A Big Adventure).
Village is also the second biggest Xbox Series X/S launch so far, behind Call Of Duty, and the third biggest seller behind Cold War and, surprisingly, Immortals Fenyx Rising.
In terms of other Resident Evil games, the physical sales are down 25% on 2019’s Resident Evil 2 and 40% down on 2017’s Resident Evil 7.
Considering the increasing decline in physical sales that’s actually very good, as many sequels, that go on to perform well across both physical and digital, have recently been selling 50% or less compared to their previous entry.
In fact, Village sold 76% more than 2020’s disappointing Resident Evil 3 and broke concurrent user records for the series on Steam, so it’s likely Village will end up being the best performing entry of recent years.
It all seems to be further good news for Capcom, who recently announced record profits for the fourth year in a row. It also seems to justify their decision to make the game less scary than Resident Evil 7, despite the complaints of some hardcore fans.
No other games were unwise enough to release at the same time as Resident Evil last week, so otherwise the charts are largely static. The only exception is PlayStation 5 exclusive Returnal, which fell straight out of the top 10 and as far down as number 15.
UK all formats retail chart – 8 May
1 (-) Resident Evil Village (PS5/PS4/XO)
2 (1) New Pokémon Snap (NS)
3 (6) FIFA 21 (PS4/XO/NS/PS5)
4 (4) Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (NS)
5 (5) Animal Crossing: New Horizons (NS)
6 (7) Minecraft (NS)
7 (3) Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury (NS)
8 (8) Grand Theft Auto 5 (PS4/XO/PS3/360/PC)
9 (9) Ring Fit Adventure (NS)
10 (10) Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (PS4/XO/PS5/XSX)
Ukie Games Charts©, compiled by GfK
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