AfterDawn: News

Despite P2P leak, Resident Evil 5 sets record for series

Despite the highly-anticipated horror sequel Resident Evil 5 being leaked to torrent sites and P2P, a full ten days before its official release date, the game saw incredible first day sales on March 13th, breaking sales records from previous Resident Evil titles.

Capcom says four million copies were sold for the Xbox 360 and Sony PS3 on the first day, and sales are currently over 5 million in 3 days of release.



The publisher, like all other major publishers, has complained of piracy woes in the past, even citing piracy as the main reason Devil May Cry 4 had stagnant sales. The publisher said the PC version of the game had been "pirated to hell" and that Capcom Japan refused to release it digitally as a result.

Overall, for all systems, Capcom has sold 40 million copies of the series since its launch in 1996.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 16 Mar 2009 16:16

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• 26 comments

• Lothros

  Again more proof that publishers are utter idiots.
  
  Perhaps if they actually released good demos of their games so we know if they are shit or not before we buy, it wouldn't be pirated so much.
  
  But then again, it would allow people to realise how crap their games are now and not buy them anyway.

  16.3.2009 16:38 #1

• embo22000

  Originally posted by Lothros: Again more proof that publishers are utter idiots.
  
  Perhaps if they actually released good demos of their games so we know if they are shit or not before we buy, it wouldn't be pirated so much.
  
  But then again, it would allow people to realise how crap their games are now and not buy them anyway.i hate when poeple defend piracy even though i do a lot of it myself im sure some small companies have gone bankrupt beacause of extrme piracy cases. Come on RE5 could probably have double the sales if not for piracy i own it and didn't pay a cent get it.

  16.3.2009 16:42 #2

• Lothros

  Quote:Originally posted by Lothros: Again more proof that publishers are utter idiots.
  
  Perhaps if they actually released good demos of their games so we know if they are shit or not before we buy, it wouldn't be pirated so much.
  
  But then again, it would allow people to realise how crap their games are now and not buy them anyway.i hate when poeple defend piracy even though i do a lot of it myself im sure some small companies have gone bankrupt beacause of extrme piracy cases. Come on RE5 could probably have double the sales if not for piracy i own it and didn't pay a cent get it.For every sale RE5 Lost to piracy it gained one from people deciding "yeah this is good I'll buy it". Most people I know don't like to drop the reidiculous amount of money they are charging for these pissweak games without knowing if its worthwhile.

  16.3.2009 17:09 #3

• ZippyDSM

  Quote:Originally posted by Lothros: Again more proof that publishers are utter idiots.
  
  Perhaps if they actually released good demos of their games so we know if they are shit or not before we buy, it wouldn't be pirated so much.
  
  But then again, it would allow people to realise how crap their games are now and not buy them anyway.i hate when poeple defend piracy even though i do a lot of it myself im sure some small companies have gone bankrupt beacause of extrme piracy cases. Come on RE5 could probably have double the sales if not for piracy i own it and didn't pay a cent get it.Sorry each download dose not equate to a lost sale you have to realize if people are not going to support a game/publisher in mass then they will go under from the costs of development.

  16.3.2009 17:15 #4

• atomicxl

  I think console piracy has basically zero effect because of the nature of it. To pirate a game on a PC, all you need to do is download a torrent. That's it. Do that and you're done.
  
  For a console game, you have to download a torrent, take a hacksaw and screwdriver to your console, bust out a soldering iron and and starting plugging in microchips to the motherboard.
  
  Your average console gamer isn't even willing to open its case, let alone bust out a soldering iron. The number of people who can play pirated console games is like such a minute fraction of that install base. Now, if this was the dreamcast where all you needed to pirate games was a torrent and Easy CD Creator, yeah I think piracy would be a major issue. But thats not the case.

  16.3.2009 17:26 #5

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by atomicxl: I think console piracy has basically zero effect because of the nature of it. To pirate a game on a PC, all you need to do is download a torrent. That's it. Do that and you're done.
  
  For a console game, you have to download a torrent, take a hacksaw and screwdriver to your console, bust out a soldering iron and and starting plugging in microchips to the motherboard.
  
  Your average console gamer isn't even willing to open its case, let alone bust out a soldering iron. The number of people who can play pirated console games is like such a minute fraction of that install base. Now, if this was the dreamcast where all you needed to pirate games was a torrent and Easy CD Creator, yeah I think piracy would be a major issue. But thats not the case.Ummm the 360 is softmodable.
  
  Also same logic applies to PC games if people are not buying it in mass it wont sale well it wont sell well because people are not buying it due to not wanting to buy it or disinterest, not piracy because the vast majority are not buying stuff and wont buy stuff and any gains you have from a lack of piracy is going to be out weighed by disinterest by mainstream consumers.

  16.3.2009 17:31 #6

• johncchc

  they make over 4 million copies within 3 days and they are complaining. wtf

  16.3.2009 19:36 #7

• DXR88

  Originally posted by johncchc: they make over 4 million copies within 3 days and they are complaining. wtf
  definition of News: the biggest piss & moan contest ever conceived by man.

  16.3.2009 19:49 #8

• Rudeboi

  I was one of the people who downloaded the game before the release date for 360.
  
  The game was so great for me, that I am going to buy the PS3 version, and unlock everything. It's a fantastic game.

  16.3.2009 22:22 #9

• DXR88

  If its good,they will come.
  
  if its bad,they will disappear into night.

  17.3.2009 01:18 #10

• Pop_Smith

  Originally posted by johncchc: they make over 4 million copies within 3 days and they are complaining. wtfActually they didn't complain about RE5's leak, it was only Devil May Cry 4 that they said suffered because of piracy.
  
  With RE5 setting series sales records despite being leaked a full 10 days before it's street date they have no right to complain about it's sales figures.
  
  Also, it looks like RE5 did extremely well considering the entire series has sold ~40 million copies since 1996. RE5 hit the 5+ million mark in 3 days, which is 12.5% of the series copies sold.
  
  Peace

  17.3.2009 02:38 #11

• Vr0cK

  Resident Evil 5 actually sold roughly under 2 million copies to customers (real sales). The 4-5 million copies sold means the shipment amount sold to the stores, so its not actual sale.
  
  http://news.vgchartz.com/news.php?id=3147

  17.3.2009 08:16 #12

• Lothros

  Sales to people or Sales to stores, Capcom still get the cash. They have no right to complain.

  17.3.2009 10:36 #13

• inagasake

  Xbox 360 piracy is not a problem. Software-to-hardware sales ratio for the 360 is 10+ bought retail games/system so how can it be a problem? That's a very high ratio compared to what heavily pirated previous gen winners like PS1 and PS2 had. The process of flashing your firmware I believe voids your warranty if I'm not mistaken and that is too risky for many to consider because of how prone the 360 is to RRoD and defects. Also many don't want to go through the trouble of flashing the firmware. If you use Xbox Live, you are risking the banhammer having flashed firmware and playing backups (even if offline). Even if you stealth patch. While the cost + risk to benefit ratio of pirating PC games is very low and fairly low for consoles like a PS1/2, the risk to benefit ratio is pretty high for a 360.

  17.3.2009 11:06 #14

• david89

  they make over 4 million copies within 3 days And They Should Be Glad They Made That Much Money As Fast As They Did With How The Economy Is Right Now It's Greed Driven 'Well Maybe We Could Of Sold 20 Million' Copies If It Wasn't For Torrent.

  17.3.2009 18:07 #15

• atomicxl

  Quote:Originally posted by atomicxl: I think console piracy has basically zero effect because of the nature of it. To pirate a game on a PC, all you need to do is download a torrent. That's it. Do that and you're done.
  
  For a console game, you have to download a torrent, take a hacksaw and screwdriver to your console, bust out a soldering iron and and starting plugging in microchips to the motherboard.
  
  Your average console gamer isn't even willing to open its case, let alone bust out a soldering iron. The number of people who can play pirated console games is like such a minute fraction of that install base. Now, if this was the dreamcast where all you needed to pirate games was a torrent and Easy CD Creator, yeah I think piracy would be a major issue. But thats not the case.Ummm the 360 is softmodable.
  
  Also same logic applies to PC games if people are not buying it in mass it wont sale well it wont sell well because people are not buying it due to not wanting to buy it or disinterest, not piracy because the vast majority are not buying stuff and wont buy stuff and any gains you have from a lack of piracy is going to be out weighed by disinterest by mainstream consumers.I'm pretty sure that you need a mod chip to play 360 games. It's not just burn a disc from image, pop it in and you're good to go.

  18.3.2009 12:25 #16

• varnull

  flash the drive firmware.. I don't even have a 360 and I know how and have done it for people.
  
  also know how to burn the games.. and how to fix busted downloads when the path in the dvd file is wrong...typical windoze noobs don't even know how to do that and download the same damn thing 5 times hoping it will change from "file not found" ..XD
  
  yet again.. more whining about "piracy hurts".. they can't show ANY proof of the above.. you can't break records and whine about stealing in the same breath without sounding stupid and being laughed at.
  

  
  
  Free open source software = made by end users who want an application to work.
  I would rather you hate me for who I am than love me for what I am not.
  Welcome to the other side of the looking glass Alice

  18.3.2009 12:35 #17

• joonbugg

  Quote:Quote:Originally posted by atomicxl: I think console piracy has basically zero effect because of the nature of it. To pirate a game on a PC, all you need to do is download a torrent. That's it. Do that and you're done.
  
  For a console game, you have to download a torrent, take a hacksaw and screwdriver to your console, bust out a soldering iron and and starting plugging in microchips to the motherboard.
  
  Your average console gamer isn't even willing to open its case, let alone bust out a soldering iron. The number of people who can play pirated console games is like such a minute fraction of that install base. Now, if this was the dreamcast where all you needed to pirate games was a torrent and Easy CD Creator, yeah I think piracy would be a major issue. But thats not the case.Ummm the 360 is softmodable.
  
  Also same logic applies to PC games if people are not buying it in mass it wont sale well it wont sell well because people are not buying it due to not wanting to buy it or disinterest, not piracy because the vast majority are not buying stuff and wont buy stuff and any gains you have from a lack of piracy is going to be out weighed by disinterest by mainstream consumers.I'm pretty sure that you need a mod chip to play 36
  0 games. It's not just burn a disc from image, pop it in and you're good to go.I modded my 360 so long ago, I remember I did the 2 wire trick. No modchip needed. If you know how to swap out a hard drive in a PC, then you can mod a 360. Take out the hard drive, hook it up to your PC, flash the drive, and you're done. Piracy does not mean 100% loss of sales revenue. Not even close. I have about 50 or 60 360 games, but I would have only bought maybe 4 or 5. I have had my PS3 since October, and I have only bought 4 games. GTA 4, NBA 2K9, Killzone 2, and MLB 09 the Show.

  18.3.2009 17:01 #18

• ZippyDSM

  Quote:Quote:Originally posted by atomicxl: I think console piracy has basically zero effect because of the nature of it. To pirate a game on a PC, all you need to do is download a torrent. That's it. Do that and you're done.
  
  For a console game, you have to download a torrent, take a hacksaw and screwdriver to your console, bust out a soldering iron and and starting plugging in microchips to the motherboard.
  
  Your average console gamer isn't even willing to open its case, let alone bust out a soldering iron. The number of people who can play pirated console games is like such a minute fraction of that install base. Now, if this was the dreamcast where all you needed to pirate games was a torrent and Easy CD Creator, yeah I think piracy would be a major issue. But thats not the case.Ummm the 360 is softmodable.
  
  Also same logic applies to PC games if people are not buying it in mass it wont sale well it wont sell well because people are not buying it due to not wanting to buy it or disinterest, not piracy because the vast majority are not buying stuff and wont buy stuff and any gains you have from a lack of piracy is going to be out weighed by disinterest by mainstream consumers.I'm pretty sure that you need a mod chip to play 360 games. It's not just burn a disc from image, pop it in and you're good to go.A mod chip is for playing backups on live more than anything else.
  
  Also the thing about being able to run backups it dose 2 thigns allow collectors to protect their stuff(as well as families with kids that break things) and allow for consumers to properly test the worth of a title, when consumers are forced to buy and are burnt by bad games they start buying less and less titles and those that don;t buy never will buy. So it all evens out in the end.

  18.3.2009 17:50 #19

• Lothros

  I like joonbugg have a ton of pirated stuff, and of that, perhaps 90% of them are crap games that I would have been very annoyed I spent €70 or so on (for some reason Ireland thinks they can charge 50% more than the rest of the world)
  
  5% of that is getting older games I had bought but lost the disks too (Freespace 2 for one, which until recently you just couldn't buy anywhere)
  
  5% of that are good games that I went and bought.

  18.3.2009 18:11 #20

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by Lothros: I like joonbugg have a ton of pirated stuff, and of that, perhaps 90% of them are crap games that I would have been very annoyed I spent €70 or so on (for some reason Ireland thinks they can charge 50% more than the rest of the world)
  
  5% of that is getting older games I had bought but lost the disks too (Freespace 2 for one, which until recently you just couldn't buy anywhere)
  
  5% of that are good games that I went and bought.Most games suck and without a proper cheat device why even bother anymore...

  18.3.2009 18:13 #21

• DXR88

  Originally posted by ZippyDSM: Most games suck and without a proper cheat device why even bother anymore...
  
  nope,thats just Zero skill kicking in.
  
  i hate cheaters as they devalue the game even further.

  18.3.2009 18:54 #22

• ZippyDSM

  Quote:Originally posted by ZippyDSM: Most games suck and without a proper cheat device why even bother anymore...
  
  nope,thats just Zero skill kicking in.
  
  i hate cheaters as they devalue the game even further.
  I am not talking about online, I am talking abotu "fixing" the decriped and poorly developed game mechanics in single player games.
  
  For instance Legia 2 has a nice weightless cheat letting you stack as many accessories on a character as you want it really brings the lack luster game to life being able to equip so much junk soem fo the resulting effects are funny.

  18.3.2009 19:13 #23

• inagasake

  Regarding the lost sales thing, I admit that there was this one PC game I bought for the reason that no one has bothered to crack it (not popular enough I guess). And I've bought a few PC games so that I can play online with a real cd key. So piracy does lead to some lost sales. But it's certainly not every sale.
  
  If piracy was not possible, I wouldn't buy almost everything that I've downloaded. Back in the day before console piracy was rampant, I had 20 NES games tops and maybe 12-15 genesis games. Most were bought used after I figured out that I was getting ripped off paying outrageous prices for new NES games. I remember TMNT 3 costing me $64 CDN + tax as a kid. However after piracy, I downloaded A LOT more games for both consoles and the PC. I probably won't pirate on the 360 (because of Xbox Live and the RRoD) if I get it but I bet I probably won't buy many games for it. And most will either be used or budget price anyway. The thing these greedy software companies don't get is that pirates tend to be cheap. Good luck trying to get people who are cheap to pay $60-70 for a game. That is outrageous.

  18.3.2009 22:42 #24

• BDL1991

  I dont get it , how do Companies lose money from Piracy ? They dont loose money they just dont make it....And it just proves that if a game is genuinly good it will succeed

  23.3.2009 05:20 #25

• ZippyDSM

  Originally posted by BDL1991: I dont get it , how do Companies lose money from Piracy ? They dont loose money they just dont make it....And it just proves that if a game is genuinly good it will succeedWell if you get everything for free how dose a company sell you stuff.
  
  The short answer is essentials are sold, luxury stuff not so much.
  
  The long answer is in a consumer driven society the masses will still buy whatever they want this means the vast majority of people are still happy to buy crap and as long as they care it dose not matter since they are the market things have to be sold to.

  23.3.2009 05:35 #26