Why Did Only Xbox 360 Resident Evil 5 Go On Sale First?

The above picture was taken at major Japanese retailer Bic Camera on March 4. Resident Evil 5 does not go on sale on March 4 in Japan, but on March 5.

While street dates are commonly broken in North America or places like Dubai, it much less common in Japan. What is bothering some Japanese gamers about this broken street date is only the Xbox 360 version went on sale early.

Add in the fact that not only the Xbox 360 version went on sale first at Bic Camera, but also the red controller, and some believe that Microsoft was behind this "false start".

ビックカメラ、「バイオハザード5」をなぜか360版だけ発売日前に販売？ [はちま起稿] <-- (ya... good luck with the click...)

im sad because there are so many games i need to play still and this is just adding fuel to to that fire i need more hours in the day

Heheh, go undercover Microsoft marketing! It just benefits us gamers in this case, right? :P

MS needs this jump. They gotta convince Japanese people that 360 actually has a respectable library this gen.

Microsoft paid them. LOL, love that excuse. :)))

There's supposed to be a huge uproar over it coming out one day early? How would this help out Microsoft to the point that they would somehow have organized this? As if anyone who had a PS3 only would turn around and buy an Xbox 360 so that they could get RE5 a day early.

Yep, it's as dumb as it sounds.

It might have been done because the game was leaked onto the Internet.

that sux for my Japanese ps3 fans hope they can hold out 1 more day rather than buy that 360 bundle

game looks like it well do good in sales

You do realize that people can own both consoles don't you? And you do realize that MS gets royalties from selling games? And you do realize that a lot of japanese gamers favor the PS3 and would most likely buy all multiplats on the PS3 if they had both? And you do realize there is an online co-op which means if a person picks up the 360 version early, later on it could factor into a friend getting the 360 version over a PS3 version? And you do realize the more someone plays a system and the more games they buy for a system the more they are going to like the system and support games on it that they otherwise may not have been interested in or even cared to check out? You do also realize that that link was from a japanese website advertising for free the XBOX 360 and the fact that a very popular game is on that console, helping to erase the notion that the 360 doesn't have many games for the japanese market?

Just because you can't figure out how it would help MS, doesn't mean that it wouldn't. 

Wait, so Japan, which has only sold 3 million PS3's and 1 million 360's, is supposed to have a high percentage of people owning BOTH the PS3 and 360 rather than the Wii which has sold 8 million?  The free 360 link was probably the same as the fake/scams and "participation required" ads we see all the time for all systems.  The 360 has had more games for the Japanese market than the PS3 this generation... so I fail to see how a multiplat releasing ONE day early at ONE retailer is going to move thousands of PS3 loyalists.

I think you are taking this poor excuse for a conspriacy and running it straight through a stack of needles.