Hot Leon is Fine, But Devil May Cry 5 Sales Data Shows the People Yearn for Dante

Word in the streets is that 2026 is the year of hot cop Leon Kennedy, but that's what the tourists want you to think. If you are a Capcom truther like me, you know that Raccoon City's most desired man is great, but the real hero is none other than pizza-loving demon slayer Dante.

Despite being released all the way back in 2019, before the brief but memorable Animal Crossing takeover, Devil May Cry 5 has had its best year ever in sales from March 2025 to March 2026. This is a major achievement on its own, but its significance within the Capcom catalogue should not be downplayed.

Today, Devil May Cry 5 is the best-selling Capcom game outside the Resident Evil franchise, beating Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, and Dragon's Dogma to the punch. But how does this white-haired uncle with an attitude problem achieve this?

Devil May Never Stop Selling

According to Capcom's latest financial report, published ahead of a shareholder's meeting set to happen on June 18, Devil May Cry 5 has sold 2.7 million copies over the past year. The data was spotted by Japanese publication Game*Spark and translated by Automaton.

Within the company's portfolio, it was only outperformed by the Resident Evil 2 remake (2.9 million copies), Resident Evil 3 (3.4 million), Resident Evil Village (3.6 million), and Resident Evil Requiem, which recorded 6.9 million sales despite only coming out in February.

Devil May Cry 5 had a decent launch year with 2.1 million copies sold, a performance it would repeat in 2023, but the sharp increase in sales this year is a promising sign for one of Capcom's most memorable franchises.

In terms of cumulative sales, the game has passed the 12.9 million mark, which puts it above last year's Monster Hunter Wilds despite the latter's incredible 10.1 million sales on launch. Considering Monster Hunter has 'only' sold 1.3 million copies in this closing fiscal year, this puts Dante in a comfortable lead, especially with next week's big release.

Nintendo Welcomes Dante and Friends

Korea's rating agency gets a bad rap for spoiling big announcements, but in the case of Devil May Cry 5, it was Taiwan that jumped the gun. In March this year, its rating agency put up a listing for the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Devil May Cry 5. About a month ago, a Swiss online retailer quietly opened pre-orders for the game.

Official confirmation finally came during this summer's Nintendo Direct, confirming that Devil May Cry 5 would come to the Switch 2 "soon". It's understandable that the Ocarina of Time reboot overshadowed that and then some.

Pre-orders are now open on the Nintendo store, with the enhanced Devil Hunter Edition discounted to $29.99 until the end of July. The game unlocks on June 23, making this just short of a shadow drop for Capcom if you ignore months of rumors and reliable leaks.

It's hard to say how much of an impact the Switch 2 launch will have on this year's Devil May Cry 5 sales, but I can guarantee you it won't hurt them. Nintendo may have lost a lot of goodwill with its users thanks to a significant price hike to its flagship console, but the Switch 2 is still a massive commercial success, with almost 20 million units sold in its first year. For comparison, the original Nintendo Switch scored 15.5 million sales in its first 12 months.

A lot of the credit for Devil May Cry's commercial resurgence goes to the Netflix animated series released last April, with a second season dropped last month. Don't be fooled by thinking this is the only reason, however. Dante is just that cool, and I'm glad people are finally catching onto that.

Devil May Cry 5 is available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and is coming to the Nintendo Switch 2 on June 23, 2026.

Released March 8, 2019

ESRB M for Mature: Blood, Partial Nudity, Strong Language, Violence

Engine RE Engine