Devil May Cry 4 for PC is underperforming at U.S. retail, and one factor is piracy, suspects Capcom.

"I"m not sure about how Capcom in general feels, but [Devil May Cry 4 for PC is] not doing as well as I would like in the US at retail," wrote Capcom business development VP Christian Svensson in a recent post on Capcom"s community message boards.

"It"s such a good version and it really deserves better sales. I know it"s getting pirated to hell and back (it was up on torrents literally the day it shipped)," he added.

Digital distribution could help curb piracy on a game like DMC4. But Svensson, who"s responsible for all digital distribution deals at Capcom, said he has "pushed for digital distribution on the title ... but Capcom Japan so far has not allowed it."

As a whole, Capcom is not a company that is against digital distribution, he said. "For the record all CEI-developed titles will be distributed extremely widely via digital channels (not just Steam or Direct2Drive, but more than a dozen partners across more than 100 sites/portals for everything we do)."

Responding to one commenter who questioned whether or not piracy was to blame for DMC4"s poor performance on PC, Svensson said, "Piracy"s not the ultimate cause... but it"s a factor."