We May Know When Resident Evil 8: Village Launches
Things have not been looking good for Capcom. Thanks to a ransomware attack on the company, fans may now know the release date of Resident Evil 8: Village. In fact, fans may know a number of things that Capcom wasn't quite ready to reveal yet.
In a news release that came out today, Capcom confirmed that its servers had been attacked on Nov. 2, revealing personal and corporate information. Specifically, the company confirmed that personal information regarding Capcom employees had been compromised, along with sales reports and financial data. Another 350,000 items may also be compromised, including the personal data of customers, business partners, shareholders, and former employers, plus confidential corporate information such as sales data, sales documents, and development documents. No credit card numbers were included, as those are handled by an unaffected third party.
Security researcher Pancak3 reported (via Bleeping Computer) that a group called Ragnar Locker had posted a ransom note to Capcom's servers asking the developer for $11 million in bitcoin to un-encrypt about 1 TB in files that it had stolen. However, Capcom did not negotiate, according to BBC. Today's press release indicated that its business is operating "without impediment." It is also working with law enforcement and third-party companies to beef up internal security.
Among the stolen information, which was posted to Twitter by user @pokeprotos and also revealed on a ResetEra thread, were documents pertaining to the release of Resident Evil 8: Village. The documents say the game is set to release in late April 2021. The leaked info also provided a timeline of deliverables, including the fact that preorders would start in January. Capcom is apparently also set to release a new multiplayer Resident Evil title, referred to as Project Highway/Village Online, which is a battle royale due in September 2021.
Additionally, the data breach provided information on Great Ace Attorney and Great Ace Attorney 2, which are going to be localized for western markets for a July 2021 release. Monster Hunter Rise may release on PCs in October 2021, and Monster Hunter Stories 2 is expected on PCs and the Switch in June 2021, according to the leaks.
Data from older and already-released games was leaked by Ragnar Locker as well, including a backup (and source codes) for Devil May Cry 2, a design document from Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, and development documents from Watch Dogs: Legion. Financial information that's now illegally available includes how much Google allegedly paid to get Resident Evil 7 and 8 on its imperfect Stadia cloud gaming service.
Ragnar Locker has targeted other big companies since 2019, including Campari Group, CWT, and multinational energy company EDP. Related types of cybercrime have become a bigger problem in the gaming industry overall, too: look at Nintendo's account breach from June. Now that all this leaked information is out, however, players should take the news with a grain of salt. There's plenty of time for Capcom to revise its time frames and game development plans before 2021 rolls around.