Silent Hill 2 Sells 2 Million Copies — Failure or Solid Performance?

Yesterday, Konami boasted about the sales of the Silent Hill 2 remake and thanked gamers for their support. The fact that the publisher is so eager to share these numbers is already an important indicator of how satisfied the Japanese company is with the results. However, a significant number of gamers online have panicked. How come — only 2 million copies? Is the franchise doomed? Their concerns are understandable: in the case of AAA games, such sales figures do not always cover costs. But let’s break it down — should we really worry about the future of Silent Hill?

Game development, like any business, depends on the balance of expenses and revenue. Large-scale horror games, unless they belong to the Resident Evil franchise, often fail to break even because the genre remains relatively niche. However, publishers tend to ignore this reality, set unrealistic commercial targets, and inflate project budgets excessively. Recent years have provided plenty of examples.

For instance, Krafton allocated an insane budget of $160 million (excluding marketing) to develop The Callisto Protocol. The Korean company was convinced that the new game by Glen Schofield, one of the creators of Dead Space, would sell 5 million copies. On what basis this prediction was made remains a mystery — especially considering that no Dead Space game ever reached that number.

In the end, The Callisto Protocol turned out to be a mediocre action-horror title and reportedly sold around 2 million copies. After the commercial failure, Schofield left Striking Distance Studios, the very studio he founded.

Even the well-received Dead Space remake, unfortunately, cannot be considered a financial success. While exact figures are unavailable, analysts estimate that EA spent nearly $65 million on development, yet the game only managed to sell around 2 million copies. Though the costs weren’t as shocking as those of The Callisto Protocol, reports suggest that EA was still disappointed. As a result, work on a Dead Space 2 remake or an entirely new entry in the franchise never even started, leaving the series frozen indefinitely.

Lastly, we cannot overlook the recent Alone in the Dark reboot. The return of this classic 90s horror franchise was such a financial disaster that THQ Nordic shut down Pieces Interactive, the studio responsible for its development.

We don’t know what sales expectations Konami had for the Silent Hill 2 remake, but hopefully, the company made realistic projections based on the franchise’s historical performance. Given that the entire Silent Hill series has sold only 9 million copies over the years, expecting a new game — released after a long hiatus — to sell 5 million copies would be unreasonable.

Most importantly, Silent Hill 2’s remake appears to have been developed on a relatively low budget for a AAA title. While official numbers aren’t publicly available, a leaked presentation slide that surfaced online on September 4, 2022, provides some insight. This internal Bloober Team document contained early screenshots of the remake and estimated development costs at $10 million. Given that salaries in Poland are lower than in Western Europe, the U.S., or Canada, this figure seems plausible.

If the Silent Hill 2 remake indeed cost around $10 million to develop, then 2 million copies sold to date — even accounting for distributor fees and marketing expenses — still translates into tens of millions in profit.

Moreover, 2 million copies is not the final count. Silent Hill 2 has been exceptionally well received by critics and players alike, suggesting that sales will continue to grow. The game’s user score on Metacritic has reached 9.2, surpassing that of most horror titles.

The success of Silent Hill 2 teaches the industry two important lessons. First, publishers must stop using Resident Evil’s massive financial performance as the benchmark for every new horror game. Resident Evil is an anomaly — a rare phenomenon rather than a realistic target for commercial projections.

Second, if publishers want to develop AAA horror games, they might benefit from partnering with studios in regions with moderate living costs, such as Eastern Europe. Game development there is relatively affordable, yet the local talent pool is just as strong as in the West.

Konami seems to have already learned these lessons. According to rumors, the company has given Bloober Team the green light to develop two more remakes — Silent Hill 1 and Silent Hill 3.

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So, if you were worried about the franchise, don’t be. Everything points to a bright future for Silent Hill. And it’s particularly gratifying to see Bloober Team’s success: a company that few believed in has suddenly become one of the most significant players in the horror genre.

What do you think? Has Konami struck gold by entrusting such an important franchise to a Polish studio? Share your thoughts in the comments.