Resident Evil 4, the fourth installment of the hit Resident Evil game series by CapCom
has just been re-released. The original game was released in 2005 and has now been remade
similarly to the first 3 Resident Evil games. News has been buzzing about the game for the
last year, and I have been very impressed by the marketing that the team has been doing.
TikTok is a very important marketing tool for marketing and building ‘hype’ for a release,
though their marketing techniques have been interesting in comparison to the last game
release.

Resident Evil Village, the eighth installment of the series was marketed with fan-made
content and clips from the game on TikTok. Not a lot of content they made was generated
from the game, as fans had been making content in droves for the game. But, the managing
team had noticed the increase in ‘edit’ content that has been all over TikTok lately. Edits are
compiled video clips and photos that are put together in a video and edited with effects,
music, and filters for the purpose of entertainment. Overall, the campaign has been incredibly
successful, Resident Evil 4 was already the most popular game in the franchise, so it was no
surprise that the remake was very successful with sales (4 million copies sold as of April 7th).

Aside from the base love of the game, the edits that CapCom has made to promote it though
have been incredibly entertaining, and very targeted to their younger Gen-Z audience.
Aside from the content made in-house, CapCom has been utilizing and reposting
fan-made content as well. Fans of the game, including myself, have been making content
specifically about the main character of the game, Leon. The content surrounding Leon has
been spread like wildfire all over the for-you page once the game came out, and that’s exactly
what CapCom needed in order to spread awareness of the game further than just the
previously established Resident Evil fan base. Making people want to play the game by
creating content that highlights how attractive the main character is, and then reposting and
interacting with fan content that does the exact same thing has been very beneficial in
spreading their work across TikTok’s algorithm.

Overall, I believe more companies should be taking note of CapCom, and their
management within the TikTok community space has been fantastic and even more of an
improvement than their Resident Evil 8 TikTok campaign. Engaging with fans and being an
active member of their own community is the best that any company, especially a game
company, can do in order to be successful in a social media space.