Video game developer Capcom officially announces that it expects its forthcoming horror game, Resident Evil 7, to sell 4 million copies once it launches.
Ever since Capcom announced Resident Evil 7 and revealed its release date at E3 2016, fans of the survival-horror franchise have been eagerly anticipating any news regarding the upcoming sequel due to the developer's decision to be rather reticent with actual gameplay details. Even so, Capcom is certain that its mysterious marketing approach will produce solid results when it comes to sales, as the company has stated it expects Resident Evil 7 will sell 4 million copies at launch during its current fiscal year.
This sales projection for Resident Evil 7 comes courtesy of Capcom's latest earnings Q&A, with the company also declaring that the survival-horror release ought to continue to sell well long after it releases. During the meeting, Capcom described the game as a "foundation" title, meaning that Resident Evil 7 has the potential to sell at a respectable level thanks to things like digital distribution.
"We are expecting 4 million unit sales worldwide in this fiscal year. Also, we expect to recognize sales of the game as a catalog title in the next fiscal year; however, revenue for catalog titles tends to grow in relation with the timing of movie releases and new titles in a series.
"What is more, the sales lifecycles for titles has grown due to digital distribution, so we expect this game to become a foundation title, producing revenue not limited to the next two fiscal years but into the long term as well."
It's interesting to note that Capcom made mention of Resident Evil 7 sales possibly spiking in relation to the "timing of movie releases," as the company also has different cinematic releases for the survival-horror franchise in the pipeline. For instance, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (starring Milla Jovovich) hits theaters on January 27, 2017, which is three days after RE 7's release, and if Capcom's right, then the movie ought to goose game sales.
Not to mention, Resident Evil: Vendetta, the forthcoming CG film inspired by the first game, is set to release in Japan sometime next year. With this being the case, it will potentially influence RE 7 sales in the Eastern country in a positive way. Plus, should the computer graphics movie ever go global in either a theatrical or physical release, then Resident Evil 7 will likely benefit financially even more so.
Taking all of this into consideration, if Capcom is correct in its predictions, then Resident Evil 7's launch numbers would be close to RE 6's "disappointing" sales figures, as it only moved 4.8 million units at the close of 2012, with the sixth installment having released in October of that year. Naturally, though, only time will tell if Resident Evil 7 is going to be able to become one of the studio's crown jewels in terms of sales and quality.
Resident Evil 7 is set to release on January 24, 2017 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation VR, and Xbox One.