Capcom’s newest monetary outcomes spotlight a recurring pattern: saying a brand new franchise title can enhance sales and participant engagement with previous video games.
The announcement of Resident Evil Requiem at Summer time Recreation Fest final June, supported by intensive advertising and marketing, led to increased sales of Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil Village.
Treatment noticed the same uplift for its 2019 title Management after saying its sequel, Management: Resonant. Its latest monetary report states that Management offered a further a million copies in 2025 after Resonant’s reveal at The Recreation Awards in December.
Sony additionally reported a major income enhance after releasing Ghost of Yōtei, the sequel to 2020’s Ghost of Tsushima. Yōtei has offered 3.3 million copies since its launch on October 2, 2025, surpassing Tsushima’s sales in the identical interval.
In accordance with knowledge from Video Recreation Insights, the unique title skilled a sales spike on Yōtei’s launch day – throughout each PlayStation and Steam, regardless of the sequel solely being launched on console.
VGI describes main sequels as being a large advertising and marketing engine that can “create a second launch interval.” However the impression will not be due solely to the act of releasing the brand new sport.
Circana’s Mat Piscatella notes that the optimistic results of a brand new sport in a franchise are “pushed largely by elevated promotion of {the catalogue} in each advertising and marketing and PR messaging efforts.”
Vital discounting and including these titles to subscription providers can enhance participant numbers and general income as effectively.
Wanting carefully at Requiem and its impact on Resident Evil Village specifically, Piscatella noticed that the legacy title acquired extra frequent promotion and deeper reductions after Requiem’s reveal, leading to increased engagement.
Knowledge from Circana’s Participant Pulse tracker shows that earlier than the announcement, Village, which launched in 2021, was promoted in-store within the US however not digitally or by e-mail. After Summer time Recreation Fest, promotion elevated throughout extra channels and has continued forward of the sport’s launch on February 27, 2026.
Concerning pricing, Piscatella notes that Village adopted a “basic high-low pricing sample” on Steam earlier than Requiem’s reveal, retailing between $39.99 and slightly below $20. After the sport was unveiled, the worth of Village on Steam dropped to $10. “This extra aggressive drop is commonly met with increased incremental sales elevate than a decrease per cent low cost,” he says.
After Requiem was introduced, Village’s lively customers elevated throughout all platforms, with PlayStation seeing the most important development, adopted by Xbox and PC. Weekly lively customers greater than doubled in comparison with the week earlier than and after Summer time Recreation Fest, then returned to pre-announcement ranges by the top of August.
Whereas saying a brand new sport in a franchise can spark curiosity in older titles, Piscatella says publishers searching for to maximise catalogue or legacy sales earlier than a brand new launch ought to put money into stronger promotion and deeper reductions.
“The bonus impact of that, of course, is to drive curiosity and buy intent of the brand new sport,” he explains. “In my expertise, this carries over throughout franchises and genres. The dimensions of sales and engagement lifts will range relying on franchise power in addition to the quantity and depth of the promotional and discounting efforts. However the knowledge counsel that the ideas are constant.”
There may be additionally knowledge to counsel that anniversary protection can drive again catalogue sales. VGI means that this requires “a business catalyst” akin to a bundle or low cost to incentivise new and previous gamers.
For instance, VGI knowledge shows Treatment’s thirtieth anniversary final 12 months noticed a major sales uptick for Management and Alan Wake, largely pushed by its thirtieth Anniversary Humble Bundle promotion. Month-to-month lively customers for Alan Wake 2 additionally elevated in late 2025 after the sequel was featured on PlayStation Plus in October.
VGI says that further entries in narrative-driven franchises akin to Resident Evil, Alan Wake and Ghost of Tsushima and Yōtei see back-catalogue worth enhance over time, “whereas annual aggressive releases usually see fast depreciation of previous entries.”
“Story-driven franchises create narrative debt, the place a sequel makes the unique sport important fairly than out of date,” a spokesperson mentioned. “In aggressive genres like shooters, the brand new entry sometimes capabilities as a substitute, inflicting the group to maneuver ahead fairly than unfold out to older titles.”