Resident Evil 4 Remake Sees 29% Boost in Sales Compared to Original GameCube Launch

The reimagined Resident Evil 4 has secured the eighth position in the UK's biggest Resident Evil boxed launches, outpacing the original GameCube version's first-week sales. Sales for the remake have seen a 29% increase compared to the original, which debuted in the UK in March 2005. Notably, the GameCube version was exclusively released on a single platform, which, at the time, was not particularly popular. However, all of its sales were physical, whereas the remake is expected to have significant digital sales, with download data to be released later. The original Resident Evil 4 eventually launched on more popular platforms, including the PS2 in November 2005 and the Wii in July 2007, albeit with slightly lower sales. In comparison to more recent titles, the Resident Evil 4 remake's sales are 23% lower than those of 2021's Resident Evil Village and 38% lower than the 2019 Resident Evil 2 remake. Nevertheless, it has surpassed the sales of the 2020 Resident Evil 3 remake by 38%. Among the three remakes released since 2019, Resident Evil 4 is the sole title to outsell its original launch. As the second horror remake to be released this year, following EA's Dead Space in January, the Resident Evil 4 remake has seen a 250% larger launch than the Dead Space remake. The sales breakdown for Resident Evil 4 reveals that 73% of boxed sales were on the PS5, 14% on Xbox consoles, and 13% on the PS4. However, these figures are likely to be less extreme once digital data is taken into account, as Xbox tends to have a stronger digital presence compared to physical sales. Despite having a lower recommended retail price than recent releases, at £60, the collector's edition of Resident Evil 4, priced at £250, has resulted in an average selling price of £62, making it the highest-priced Resident Evil release to date. Hogwarts Legacy holds the second position, despite a 31% decline in sales, narrowly ahead of FIFA 23, which saw an 11% increase in sales. Last week's top title, WWE 2K 23, has dropped to fourth place after a 58% decrease in sales. The release of new content and DLC for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has boosted the game's sales, with the shooter jumping two places to sixth position after a 40% increase in sales. Super Mario Odyssey continues to perform well, thanks to the new Nintendo Switch bundle, and has risen to seventh place with a 16% increase in sales. As the Super Mario Bros movie is set to launch next week, the game is expected to remain in the top ten. Another platform game, Sonic Frontiers from Sega, has seen a significant increase in sales, with a 217% boost, and has re-entered the charts at number 16. This week, one new game has entered the charts: Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End & the Secret Key, which debuts at number 32. The GfK UK Boxed Top Ten for the week ending March 25, 2023, is as follows: