Capcom ransomware attack potentially outs Resident Evil Village date, PS4 version, battle royale

As you may or may not have heard, Osaka-based developer Capcom was recently hit with a ransomware attack, exposing huge amounts of internal information about the company and its projects.

Before we go on, let’s be clear on something: ransomware is a messy, awful, and illegal new trend that has popped up in recent years. For those unaware, ransomware is a type of malware that encrypts a company or individual’s data, typically with the understanding that those files will be decrypted if the “ransom” is paid. At times, the lack of payment comes with stated penalties, such as the leaking of sensitive or private information—which seems to be what happened here.

Here is the statement Capcom released following the attack:

Beginning in the early morning hours of November 2, 2020 some of the Capcom Group networks experienced issues that affected access to certain systems, including email and file servers. The company has confirmed that this was due to unauthorized access carried out by a third party, and that it has halted some operations of its internal networks as of November 2. Capcom expressed its deepest regret for any inconvenience this may cause to its various stakeholders. Further, it stated that at present there is no indication that any customer information was breached. This incident has not affected connections for playing the company’s games online or access to its various websites.

There’s a lot of information that’s come out due to the leak, but the details we’re focusing on here concern Resident Evil Village, the next chapter in Capcom’s survival horror franchise. While, obviously, all of this should be considered rumor until proven true—especially as some of the data comes from pre-COVID 19 times—it seems Village is set for release next April, with a demo for the game coming before that point.

Far more intriguing is mentions of “Dominion” on a slide talking about Resident Evil Village. On said slide, we get this line:

Offline Edition (Resident Evil Village) + Online Edition (Code Name: DOMINION)

We should point out, by the way, that a “PS4 version” of Village is mentioned at this point, and explained that it “has not been announced yet (announced at TGS as under study).”

So what is Dominion? According to users on Resetera who have been digging through the leak, it could be “a Battle Royale of some sort.” Which, while some may scoff at the idea, we’ve got to be honest—we’d totally be up for playing such an online mode.