The terror of Silent Hill has been reawakened with the remade version of Silent Hill 2 by Konami and Bloober Team, which has marked a significant milestone of over 2.5 million units sold globally since its release. The landmark has prompted mixed reactions from the gaming community who have had a lot to say about it. Among the platforms where the horror remake has been re-launched, the character of James Sunderland has been the most influential, and even though the financial side of this game is still a matter of doubts for some players when compared to other recent remakes, it has clearly been a hit.
The question we should be thinking is why the 2.5 million copies sold is such a big issue? A matter of who you are in the comment sections will dictate your answer. Some players immediately came up with comparisons to other games, like one user who pointed out “Final Fantasy 16’s budget – 300 million $, Silent Hill 2 Remake’s budget – 60 million $.” The budget aspect is important since it implies that the development costs of the Silent Hill remake were likely to have been recouped more quickly in comparison to the larger-budget games. Another user also said, “SH 2 Remake recouped its cost in the first week,” meaning that the game was already profitable from the beginning.
However, not everyone is convinced that this is a huge win. A user expressed disbelief, “It had 2 million sales in 3 months, then it got 500k in 1 year. It was a good sale but to call it ‘a huge success’ is really an exaggeration.” This perspective emphasizes how the different expectations and sales periods lead to different interpretations of the same sales figures. The users were quite heatedly and in an engaging manner discussing everything from the budgets for development to the question of how saturated the market is with remakes in general.
The comparison with the Resident Evil 4 Remake was something that could not be avoided; one gamer told that on the grounds of “re4 did super well that’s why it got a remake they don’t care about that,” to another who answered, “RE4R created a new audience that otherwise wouldn’t play the original (like me!).” Such an exchange indicates how much the two franchises differ in the realm of remakes and how the success definitions are changing in today’s game world.
Players are already looking ahead to what is coming next; perhaps the most surprising factor is this. The hope for more Silent Hill remakes was quite common in the comments, with one saying “I hope for 3,4.” Another user claimed, “Silent hill 1 remake is already in full production” although this has not been officially confirmed by Konami yet. That being said, it is clear that the fans are asking for more of the classic Silent Hill saga to be re-made.
Platform exclusivity was another hot topic of discussion that players brought up, with speculation going on about the release date for the Xbox version. One comment stated, “It should have been out by now. It’s been over a year,” referring to the temporarily exclusive period on PlayStation. Another person wondered about the possible compatibility with Switch 2 but most seemed to have doubts because of the technical challenges involved with the Unreal Engine 5 title.
Doubts have been expressed but at the same time there are a lot of players that are still celebrating the milestone sale figure. The comments “Deserves to sell way more!” and “Guess the boycott failed 😂😂” show that there are quite a few players who are really pleased that the classic survival horror game is being rediscovered. The mixed reactions actually demonstrate how vibrant the Silent Hill community is – they might even disagree about what constitutes success but are still connected by their love for the game.
From the other perspective, looking at it in the larger framework, the 2.5 million copies of a horror remake in an already saturated market today still count for a lot. horror has always been a genre with a small following compared to action, and that’s why in the past Silent Hill has always been considered as a more niche franchise compared to Resident Evil, for instance. The fact that it is still selling a year after its release is a sign that the good press and positive word of mouth are the main factors keeping it alive.
The discussions around Silent Hill 2 Remake sales raise a lot of questions on how the game players would weigh success in 2024. It’s not just numbers anymore – you have to factor in the production costs, positioning in the market, the history of the franchise and also the potential for the future. While some gamers see 2.5 million as a small number, others argue that for a psychological horror game with a loyal yet relatively small audience the figures might mean more foggy town visits in future days. To be fair, after such a long wait for new Silent Hill content, it is most likely that the majority of people just want to see the franchise active rather than quarreling about the sales figures.
