Resident Evil games by budget?

[Lead belly]

I remember reading somewhere that the N64 version of RE2 had a budget of around 1 million dollars, which is/was supposedly a substantial amount to spend on a port. < This got me thinking: What were the budgets for each individual RE title (that we know of)? I just thought it'd be interesting to bring up this question; to see how much production value it takes to make our beloved horror games. And for shits and giggles, let's compare a game like RE:ZERO to RE:5, money-wise, and see how many RE:ZERO's we can fit into one 5! XD. Perhaps even list them by biggest, to lowest. Budgets adjusted for inflation if at all necessary of course.

[Lanzagranadas]

http://www.shacknews.com/article/52832/capcom-releases-lifetime-sales-of

(It only counts Capcom titles which have sold more than 1 million copies):

02. Resident Evil 2 (January 1998, PS, 4,960,000)
04. Resident Evil 3 Nemesis (September 1999, PS, 3,500,000)
05. Resident Evil (March 1996, PS, 2,750,000)
11. Resident Evil 4, (December 2005, PS2, 2,000,000)
19. Resident Evil 4 (January 2005, GC, 1,600,000)
24. Resident Evil Outbreak (December 2003, PS2, 1,450,000)
26. Resident Evil Code Veronica X (March 2001, PS2, 1,400,000)
28. Resident Evil (March 2002, GC, 1,350,000)
31. Resident Evil 0 (November 2002, GC, 1,250,000)
32. Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition (May 2007, Wii, 1,250,000)
34. Resident Evil DC Dual Shock (August 1998, PS, 1,200,000)
39. Resident Evil Code Veronica (February 2000, DC, 1,140,000)
41. Resident Evil Director's Cut (September 1997, PS, 1,130,000)
44. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (November 2007, Wii, 1,050,000)

That list was from may 2008, so it doesn´t includes RE5 and RE6, maybe there is a more updated one somewhere else.

[yurieu]

31. Resident Evil 0 (November 2002, GC, 1,250,000)

wow, RE0 1.250.000 copies? Impressive number for an exclusive game from late 2002.

who was the fool one saying RE remake and zero were making the franchise die?

[Rombie]

http://www.shacknews.com/article/528...etime-sales-of

(It only counts Capcom titles which have sold more than 1 million copies):

02. Resident Evil 2 (January 1998, PS, 4,960,000)
04. Resident Evil 3 Nemesis (September 1999, PS, 3,500,000)
05. Resident Evil (March 1996, PS, 2,750,000)
11. Resident Evil 4, (December 2005, PS2, 2,000,000)
19. Resident Evil 4 (January 2005, GC, 1,600,000)
24. Resident Evil Outbreak (December 2003, PS2, 1,450,000)
26. Resident Evil Code Veronica X (March 2001, PS2, 1,400,000)
28. Resident Evil (March 2002, GC, 1,350,000)
31. Resident Evil 0 (November 2002, GC, 1,250,000)
32. Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition (May 2007, Wii, 1,250,000)
34. Resident Evil DC Dual Shock (August 1998, PS, 1,200,000)
39. Resident Evil Code Veronica (February 2000, DC, 1,140,000)
41. Resident Evil Director's Cut (September 1997, PS, 1,130,000)
44. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (November 2007, Wii, 1,050,000)

That list was from may 2008, so it doesn´t includes RE5 and RE6, maybe there is a more updated one somewhere else.

Even if it did, that would be difficult additions. Capcom used to break down sales into platform SKU's, but no longer do so. RE5 and RE6's sales are combined on all avaliable platforms. Argument used to be that it was because they launched day and date, but Capcom stats seemingly has included PC versions which obvious launched later in both cases.

If we did that with the older titles the list would look different, especially RE2 whos release on PS, PS DS re-release, DC, GC, and PC would be above 6 million units and the original 1996 Resident Evil would be over 5 million.

[rewak]

Those are sales figures, not production budget which i believe is the question.

[MiLØ]

The biggest budget is RE6. Those explosions don't come cheap.

I have a hazy memory of reading in a magazine long time ago that budget for RE2 was $8 mil.

[News Bot]

wow, RE0 1.250.000 copies? Impressive number for an exclusive game from late 2002.

who was the fool one saying RE remake and zero were making the franchise die?

It sold 100,000 less than the remake, so it was seen as a decline. I believe BH0 also had a more significant investment considering development actually started in 1997, moved between two platforms, and was considerably outsourced.

[rewak]

The biggest budget is RE6. Those explosions don't come cheap.

I have a hazy memory of reading in a magazine long time ago that budget for RE2 was $8 mil.

I'd actually wager 4 was probably the largest overall budget given the amount of versions it went through and then the number of ports it received.

[Rombie]

The biggest budget is RE6. Those explosions don't come cheap.

I have a hazy memory of reading in a magazine long time ago that budget for RE2 was $8 mil.

I can only take this quote on its word but I'd be surpised if it wasn't true, saw it when I did my research into the commercial. The guy who wrote it did discuss the game with staff involved who turned up for the shoot and he was there for the whole thing.

The BH2 commercial is the most expensive commercial Capcom has made to date. It was directed by George A. Romero. In fact, the cost of the commercial ($1.5 million) exceeded the development cost of the game. There were two versions, a 30 second and 15 second commercial.

[MiLØ]

I'd actually wager 4 was probably the largest overall budget given the amount of versions it went through and then the number of ports it received.

That would be interesting, but I doubt it. RE6 had bigger everything, and as Capcom said it themselves it was the largest scale project they've worked on so far and which employed the largest amount of staff. If I had to guesstimate, RE6 probably cost about $50 mil, if a Hollywood level production like Modern Warfare 2 had a $40-50 mil budget, then RE6 should somewhere around there as well. Plus take in consideration that japanese production is cheaper compared to american of the same size.
For example you'd watch Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence and think holy crap this first grade visuals must expensive as hell, and then find out that it was only $20 mil. A US film featuring a high level of 2D & 3D animation like that would cost $60 mil at least. $20 mil for Japan is still really expensive though. ...Anyways, I don't have a clue, just thinking out loud.

The BH2 commercial is the most expensive commercial Capcom has made to date. It was directed by George A. Romero. In fact, the cost of the commercial ($1.5 million) exceeded the development cost of the game. There were two versions, a 30 second and 15 second commercial.

Right I remember that quote too now. Yep, commercial was $1.5 mil. Well, I could very well be wrong about 8 mil. But I also remember (another hazy memory) RE2 being described as the "most expensive PS1 game to date" at the time.
It's a little hard to believe that the cost of the game can be smaller then its production, but that's how market works I guess, the harder you spin your merchandise the larger output it will produce.
Once again Modern Warfare 2 as an example, after $40-50 mil of production cost they had a $150 mil marketing campaign (included production and distribution of discs).
But yeah, all those numbers paid off in the end, big time.