Resident Evil 5 hits high first day sales (in Japan)

06.03.2009
is clearly poised to be the next king of the hill, selling 278,000 units in its first day on Japanese shelves. According to , this should be more than enough to throne Japan's current best selling title, Yakuza 3, but the end of the week. So far, the PlayStation 3 has proven to be the console of choice for Capcom's survival horror masterpiece, raking in 222,000 copies, with the Xbox 360 picking up scraps at 56,000 copies.

This is great news for Capcom, especially considering the hype accompanied with , , and the inclusion of fan favorite modes like . Stay frosty: Resident Evil 5 is hitting American shelves on March 13 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Keep watching for GamePro's review!

What's more incredible is that Resident Evil 5 has beaten launch day sales of Resident Evil 4. The game sold 117,000 copies for the Gamecube in January 2005 and 145,000 copies for the PlayStation 2 in December 2005. Resident Evil 5 has surpassed that combined number.

Not only has the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 combined sales managed to best both, the PlayStation 3 managed the feat all by itself.

Here's another tasty statistic. The Xbox 360 version of Resident Evil 5 outsold the Nintendo release of Resident Evil 4 (27,000) and Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles (53,000). Oh yes, the Xbox 360 isn't doing that bad at all in Japan. --