In Resident Evil 4, Leon Faces Plenty of Dangers in Spain—but He's Not Alone
The Merchant's Billion-Dollar Loss in Resident Evil 4 Revealed
While the horrors of Resident Evil 4 keep Leon on his toes, he does get some help along the way. It doesn't always come cheap, but as Capcom recently revealed, the one footing the bill isn't Leon himself.
Who's Leon's Best Friend in Resident Evil 4?
Both the original game and the remake feature several characters who don't want Leon dead—President Graham's daughter Ashley, the enigmatic agent Ada Wong, and the local informant Luis Sera. But the player's true MVP? That would be the Merchant.
Not only does he supply Leon with weapons, upgrades, and gear, but the moment players spot his iconic "What're ya buyin'?" setup, they know: Time to take a breather. Even though we pay him in hard-earned Spanish pesetas, he's a fair dealer—or so we thought. Because, as Capcom just revealed, his business model is deep in the red.
Math Isn't His Strong Suit
Just how deep in debt is the Merchant? To celebrate the third anniversary of the Resident Evil 4 remake, Capcom dropped a wild stat breakdown on X (formerly Twitter), revealing just how much money has changed hands—and how badly the Merchant is getting fleeced:
- Players spent 39,914,290,699,099 pesetas (roughly €239.89 billion) at his shop.
- But the Merchant paid out 43,251,570,618,389 pesetas (about €259.95 billion) to players.
According to Capcom, that leaves him with a staggering 3,337,279,919,290 pesetas (around €20.06 billion) in losses—meaning he's operating at a massive deficit. For context, the game's infinite ammo rocket launcher costs a mere 2 million pesetas (roughly €12,020).
How does this even happen? In Resident Evil 4, players loot treasures in the game world and sell them to the Merchant for pesetas. What he does with those treasures afterward is anyone's guess—maybe he flips them to an even shadier buyer.
Sadly, the Merchant never made another appearance. Resident Evil Village introduced the Duke as his spiritual successor, while Resident Evil: Death Island replaced him entirely with a high-tech supply box. After years away, Leon S. Kennedy finally returned in the latest entry, Resident Evil: Death Island—though his old merchant buddy was nowhere to be found.
