Capcom Delivered a Marketing Masterclass with Resident Evil Requiem

Key insights

7 takeaways

01
Capcom’s 'Resident Evil Requiem' achieved five million sales in under a week, driven by a strategic shift away from PlayStation-exclusive marketing toward multiplatform events like Summer Game Fest to better capture the growing PC audience.
02
Google is reducing in-app purchase commission rates from 30% to 20% and decoupling its payment system from the Play Store, with new service fees for developers using Google’s billing system rolling out globally between June 2026 and September 2027.
03
The US government is investigating whether Tencent can maintain its ownership and investments in US-based game companies, including stakes in Riot Games and Epic Games.
04
The Sims 4 is launching a user-generated content marketplace on March 17, where creators will receive a 30% revenue share from sales made in the virtual currency 'Moola'.
05
AI platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini show significant variance in game recommendations, with ChatGPT relying heavily on Wikipedia as a primary source while Gemini incorporates a wider mix of YouTube, Reddit, and gaming-specific outlets.
06
nDreams is undergoing a major restructuring involving significant layoffs and the closure of two internal studios, following a trend of industry-wide contraction.
07
The Pokémon Company announced the next generation of games, 'Winds and Waves,' will be exclusive to the Nintendo Switch 2 and is scheduled for release in 2027.

Summary

Capcom achieved a significant commercial milestone with the release of Resident Evil Requiem, which recorded five million sales in under one week. This performance outpaced previous franchise entries, as the 2023 Resident Evil 4 Remake required three months to reach the same volume, and 2021’s Resident Evil Village took five months. The title saw particularly strong growth on PC, where it achieved a peak of 344,214 concurrent players on Steam, more than doubling the previous franchise record.

The success is attributed to a strategic marketing evolution that prioritized multiplatform reach over traditional console-centric reveals. By shifting the game’s announcement from PlayStation-exclusive events to the multiplatform Summer Game Fest, Capcom successfully engaged a broader PC audience. Subsequent marketing efforts, including a presence at Gamescom and PAX, as well as a native launch on the Nintendo Switch 2, further expanded the game's reach. High-profile reveals at The Game Awards and strategic partnerships with brands like Nvidia and Porsche maintained momentum, positioning the title as one of the most anticipated games of 2026.

Beyond the specific case study of Resident Evil Requiem, the analysis incorporates findings from Fancensus regarding the role of artificial intelligence in game discovery. Between January 19 and March 2, 2026, researchers tracked AI recommendations from ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. The data indicates that AI platforms are increasingly influenced by the news cycle, with Perplexity and Gemini showing a strong bias toward unreleased titles. ChatGPT demonstrated a higher tendency to recommend currently available games and relied heavily on Wikipedia as a primary source, whereas Gemini utilized a more diverse range of sources, including Reddit and YouTube. These insights highlight how AI-driven discovery is becoming a critical, albeit volatile, factor in the modern video game marketing landscape.