The highly-anticipated Resident Evil Village saw major streaming success on its official launch day, May 7th. Village set a new high for the Resident Evil Series with an 808K peak viewership record. This is a 94% increase in viewership compared to the last release in the series, the Resident Evil 3 remake. Capcom knows how to build suspense and not just in their games. Fans of the series were discussing Village long before it came out with the help of teasers and multiple demos.
Back in January 2017, the release of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard put the entire Resident Evil franchise back on the horror map. The game brought new characters, graphics, and lore to the series. Plus, Biohazard was the first in the franchise to utilize first-person mode. 223K peak viewer might seem low for a hit like Biohazard. However, gaming and live streaming have seen huge growth in recent years. Stream Hatchet’s 2020 Yearly Report notes that video game live streaming hours watched grew 69% in 2020 and up 81% from 2019.
Prior to Resident Evil Village’s release, the remakes of 2 and 3 maintained Resident Evil’s success on live streaming platforms. The remakes united both new and old fans alike with 415K peak viewership. Resident Evil games have good replayability. With detailed difficulty levels and unlockables, speed runs are popular among streamers and Resident Evil fans. Although the franchise is mostly a linear experience, speed run challenges help with long-term streaming viewership. In the near future, Resident Evil Village will likely have DLC content in segmented releases like its predecessor, Biohazard. Additionally, the rumored Resident Evil 4 remake will attempt to top Village’s 808K viewership launch record.
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