Resident Evil 4 remake surpasses 10m unit sales, but mobile may represent less than 1%

The Resident Evil 4 remake has surpassed 10 million unit sales, though less than 1% of this figure has likely come from mobile.

The milestone was reached by December 31st, 2024 "in the approximate two years since its 2023 release", according to Capcom.

While the game is available on console, PC and mobile, no official figures as to the distribution of players per platform was provided.

Resident Evil 4’s PC and console versions released on March 24th, 2023, while an iOS version followed later that year on December 20th. The remake was based on the original 2005 title.

Console quality?

Resident Evil 4 can be installed for free on mobile, but the full experience must be unlocked via a premium in-game purchase. Total free-trial downloads were likely ignored in the 10m units milestone, therefore, but full purchases - priced at $59.99 on iOS - may have been included.

The mobile purchasing price is the same as Resident Evil 4's retail price for consoles and PC, after all, which furthered the case for console-quality games on mobile in 2023.

On this basis, Resident Evil 4’s estimated $925,000 in gross player spending by December 31st (according to AppMagic) reflects approximately 15,500 fully purchased downloads. This would make mobile sales responsible for just 0.15% of all Resident Evil 4’s cross-platform sales.

Its true contribution may be even lower, considering DLC’s potential impact on mobile revenue.

Resident Evil 4’s performance has been uniquely lacklustre on mobile, therefore, representing so small a fraction of unit sales for a record-breaking game in Capcom’s biggest franchise.

Its poor performance also comes in contrast to initial excitement around its iOS launch, having fuelled conversation around mobile hardware advancements at the time with the A17 Pro chip, and having been highlighted specifically during the iPhone 15 Pro reveal.

The mobile version was also mired almost nine months on from release with a controversial update in September 2024, necessary "due to changes to the startup process" but meaning that going forward, players must have an internet connection at the beginning of a play session. This is despite Resident Evil 4 being a single-player experience that previously functioned entirely offline.

Capcom partially attributed the remake’s success to wide critical exclaim, with its multiple awards "significantly driving ongoing sales growth for the game". But it seems highly likely that mobile wasn’t a part of this.