Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City Japan Debut Sales & NECA Figures

[Dracarys]

I can see Capcom having shipped 2 million on it. Or that they will have by years end. That's notReally in question. They usually match expectations to shipped numbers unless things go horribly wrong or incredibly right.

But I still don't agree in sales, given trends in Japan I expect the same large drop off for the game that happened in the US and Europe. Add in what I think is a limited shelf life on longevity for the year (even with a cheaper price later no one is going to buy ORC after September due to RE6) and I really do think the peak will be at the 1.5 mill range max.

As I said elsewhere Capcom might do another experiment and try use the brand another way but given lukewarm sales and lukewarm critical response they won't be making ORC2.

I disagree about RE6 killing ORC sales, sequels will often stir interest in previous entries in a series. After RE6 releases I would expect a small rise in the weekly RE5 and ORC sales from newly created RE fans.

I do agree about a ORC2, for one it would be a stretch to fit another story in Raccoon City, plus the critical reaction probably means despite sales if they did decide on a sequel it would be 'spiritual' in nature and not use a similar name, new dev also.

[News Bot]

It's also worth noting that BH4 sales don't seem impressive until you take into account its multiple SKUs. Likewise with every other game in the series. In comparison, ORC across both SKUs is lukewarm and will likely only reach numbers comparable to BH4 Wii Edition (1.5m).

[Pikminister]

I wouldn't call Bio4 Wii numbers "lukewarm", considering it's a port and it came out very early on in the life cycle of the system. And BTW, it sold 1.6 million

[Rombie]

I disagree about RE6 killing ORC sales, sequels will often stir interest in previous entries in a series. After RE6 releases I would expect a small rise in the weekly RE5 and ORC sales from newly created RE fans.

I figure there will some bump but I'd expect more towards numbered titles over others as always, so RE5 more so than ORC. And even then still a blip amount, hardly going to really factor on drastically changing the overalls. The other issue is people on the fence about it are not going to more now that RE6 is pulled forward.

I do agree about a ORC2, for one it would be a stretch to fit another story in Raccoon City, plus the critical reaction probably means despite sales if they did decide on a sequel it would be 'spiritual' in nature and not use a similar name, new dev also.

I'm not sure if it would be a strech exactly, normally I would agree but the level of "story" leaves it about as open as Outbreak was. I mean as it is I could see - had this done better in sales - Slant Six being asked by Capcom to produce further ongoing DLC that was campaign level. Given the overall quality already was it wouldn't have been an issue to add in extra stories.

I can't agree or disagree on a 'spiritual' title, it's really based on who thinks it is by label. It can be a fairly loose label... hell I'm sure early promotion of ORC tried to say this would appeal to Outbreak fans due to the RC location and the online and was labeled 'spritual' as such, and we know how it turned out. But I do agree, different dev - taking some positives away from the thing as far as online goes hopefully and then think of a new approach.

[News Bot]

I wouldn't call Bio4 Wii numbers "lukewarm", considering it's a port and it came out very early on in the life cycle of the system. And BTW, it sold 1.6 million

I meant that ORC is lukewarm in comparison. BH4 Wii did well despite those obstacles.

[Mr. Spencer]

Brand power is everything.

[Wrathborne]

RE movies are proof of that.

[Zombie]

Really shocked by the sales.

[News Bot]

Really shocked by the sales.

There isn't always a direct correlation between sales numbers and quality. Brand name can do a lot.

[Mrox2]

There isn't always a direct correlation between sales numbers and quality. Brand name can do a lot.

Like
Someone : OMG Look new RE Game i heard they are good , lets get it !
Someone : Oh i have to get it because im a fan
Someone : Just to add it to my collection , wont bother playing it ...
Someone : OMG Mr.X ! this looks nice @_@ !!

And so on , yes name does boost sales , they could have called the game just "Operation Raccoon City" but they knew it would fail then ...

[Dracarys]

Disproven by Revelations sales.

Nice warp of reality here. RE some people do not like sells well = "Selling on RE name only" RE game they like sells badly "RE name does not sell, blame 3DS!"

[Canas Renvall]

^ Nobody's saying a theory is 100% correct. And as was explained earlier, yes, the brand name has a lot to do with it. Do you truthfully believe that a game is going to sell as well on a single year-to-two-year-old handheld with a brand name as opposed to two home consoles out for 6 or 7 years?

Granted, it does say something that Revelations did poorly, but that's also because people got pissed at Capcom because once they sold Mercs 3D with the save file fiasco, they literally admitted it was more or less a glorified paid demo. They said that. To the fans.

People were very unhappy. And used their wallets to prove it.

Edit: It's also why RE4 sold more on PS2 than Gamecube. It was wildly inferior at a technical and graphical level, but it still overpowered the GC in sales. Because the fanbase was much larger.

[Beanovsky Durst]

Disproven by Revelations sales.

Nice warp of reality here. RE some people do not like sells well = "Selling on RE name only" RE game they like sells badly "RE name does not sell, blame 3DS!"

"But it's portable console, and those suck, Gameboys aren't for REAL L33T GAMERZ"

I agree. Revelations without a doubt was a superior title, and the brand name didn't helped that much to boost sales...

[News Bot]

Disproven by Revelations sales.

Nice warp of reality here. RE some people do not like sells well = "Selling on RE name only" RE game they like sells badly "RE name does not sell, blame 3DS!"

You really need to stop accusing everyone you disagree with of "twisting" or "warping" something when you don't even consider what they say and ignore everything which proves you wrong. Anyone will tell you that brand name and popularity contributes heavily to sales, because that's what happens in reality. Operation Raccoon City got beaten to the ground by critics, so it obviously wasn't a case of it being a critically applauded title. It is also highly divisive among both Biohazard fans and the general gaming community with the vast majority of people generally disliking the game, so it's clearly not a well-liked and popular title. Slant Six aren't a popular or even respected developer, so it's obviously not their involvement which spurs interest.

And yes, the 3DS hurt Revelations quite badly. The main reason being that the 3DS did not have much of the Biohazard fan-base. (as Canas pointed out, the same reason PS2 sales of BH4 dwarfed the GameCube version despite the game being critically applauded, award-winning and well-liked, none of which apply to Operation Raccoon City). The main complaint you hear from people who haven't played Revelations is that they don't have a 3DS.

Luckily, CAPCOM are paying more attention to the fact that Revelations was critically much more well-received than Operation Raccoon City, so its underwhelming sales won't affect development of a similar game in the future.

[Pikminister]

Disproven by Revelations sales.

That shit again?

Since we're going in circles with this nonsense... I repeat what I said before:

Lets avoid comparing ORC to how other RE games did on this or that console? That way of doing things just doesn't make any sense at all.

Why you ask?

Because in each case, you had very different circumstances. Circumstances that either provided a particular game with a very unique situation. Where it could thrive or even fail. Coming out on unique platforms each with their own challenges, opportunities and limitations, makes each game's situation different. Very different. And it's hard to compare such situations to another one that belongs to a game that came out on a different platform and/or era.

And that's why people to this day keep saying "If only this game had come out on X console, it would've sold better". And they say that because indeed, each platform offers a unique opportunity for every game out there.

And that's also why CVX sold better on the PS2 than DC. And why RE1, RE2, RE3 sold better on the PS1 than on the GCN, despite being basically the same games. And why multiplatform games sell better on the X360 than on the PS3.

All this happens because each platform provides a very unique setting for those games to thrive or become a legendary bomba. So why compare how that game did to this game and all that jazz. It's pointless. Not comparable situations in each individual case. So it makes no sense at all to make comparisons.

So my proposition to cut out the mindless comparison crap is this:

Let's stick with the platforms that ORC actually came out on.

On the platforms that ORC came out on, the best selling games are usually action-shooters & most of them hit it big when they're enhanced with co-op and competitive play. On top of that, you got the fact that the RE brand name had become synonimous on those platforms with action-shooters, co-op and competitive gameplay.So right there, you had the best setting possible for ORC to make it big. It had a receptive audience that adores shooters and that had made RE5 a massive hit, previously. And when you combine the two together like ORC did (action-shooter + RE brand name), it was a no-brainer. It would've been very odd and strange if it didn't sell.

And when you just look at that situation in at by itself, it is even weirder that you would make the claim that the RE brand name had no effect on ORC selling like it did.

And bringing up other games from different eras, situations and platforms, doesn't really help make your claim look any more valid. It was a wonky claim from the start. And deep down you know it.

Oh yeah and this:

02. Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (360, PS3) Capcom USA - 582K
XX. Binary Domain - 20K

The lousy shooter sold better than the superior one.

Dat BRAND NAME.

It's clear that the one spinnin' things is you. Why? Fuck if I know.... do you work for Slant Six Games?