Horror is big business
Resident Evil turning 30 is a good excuse to notice something obvious that still gets underreported: horror is the most dependable genre in entertainment. It doesn't need a huge budget to work, it travels across every medium, and its audience shows up on schedule. Games, films, even interactive experiences on streaming platforms all lean on it when they need a guaranteed pulse of engagement.
I'd want the newsletter to dig into the actual numbers, because the economics have shifted in ways that matter more than simple popularity. A horror title can be built for a fraction of a AAA budget and still clear its costs on opening weekend or launch day. That makes it a hedge for studios facing rising production costs everywhere else. The genre functions as a kind of risk management, and that's a more interesting story than "scary stuff sells."
The 30-year Resident Evil run is a useful case study too, because it shows how a franchise can keep reinventing itself without losing its core. I suspect the bigger lesson is that horror rewards consistency more than novelty, and that's a rare thing in an industry obsessed with the next new thing.