Demon's Souls Sales Triple Expectations

[John Funk]

Demon's Souls Sales Triple Expectations

As it turns out, almost four times as many people were willing to torture themselves in Demon's Souls [http://www.amazon.com/Demons-Souls-Playstation-3/dp/B002AB7TX8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1278534624&sr=1-1] for Atlus USA's benefit than originally predicted.

The second half of last year was filled with surefire hits that everyone saw coming - Assassin's Creed 2 [http://www.amazon.com/Call-Duty-Modern-Warfare-Xbox-360/dp/B00269QLI8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1278534604&sr=1-1], to name a few - but one of the year's surprise sleeper hits was Demon's Souls, a brutally difficult game from From Software (which is an awkward sentence to write) that Atlus USA took a gamble on publishing here in the States.

It's a gamble that seems to have paid off very, very well for the publisher. Us weak-minded, weak-hearted American gamers - who clearly weren't thought of as being willing to put up with hardcore, brutally punishing and masochistic Japanese games?

...apparently, we were.

Atlus planned to sell 75,000 copies of Demon's Souls here in North America. As of February 28th (the end of its second quarter on sale), the game had sold 280,000 copies - almost four time Atlus' initial projections.

Nicely done, guys. If a second Demon's Souls comes out, maybe there won't be as much risk bringing it over again.

(Siliconera [http://www.siliconera.com/2010/04/14/demons-souls-sells-triple-what-atlus-usa-expected/])

Permalink

 

[joshthor]

just goes to show if the game gets enough good reviews people will buy it. speaking of which, i am actually planning on getting it when i get a ps3.

 

[Brad Shepard]

well its an ATLUS game, ATLUS games are awesome, im not shocked whatsoever.

 

[Hazy]

Well deserved.

Demon's Souls was a marvel of game design, and a phenomenal title if there ever was one.

 

[RollForInitiative]

That game has consumed countless hours of mine. So very, very fun, in a brutally masochistic way. Or is it just sadism for me? I do so love invading other people's worlds and one-shotting them with my super-builds.

well its an ATLUS game, ATLUS games are awesome, im not shocked whatsoever.

I'm inclined to point out that it was developed by FROM Software, though I agree with your assessment of Atlus-labeled titles in general.

 

[Gigaguy64]

Sweet, i hope games like this and TvC show that we want to play good and hard games.
Hopefully we will start to see more games that were supposed to be Japan only.

NamcoXCapcom anyone?

 

[Matt_LRR]

considering the ongoing trend towards easy games I'm surprised they didn't consider how many people have been hankering for an old-school 'kill your face in its face' hard game for years now.


I'm pretty sure if they released a game and flatly told people "we have designed this game so that it is actually not possible to beat the first level" the hardest of the hardcore would still buy it just to try and prove the developers wrong.

-m

 

[Fayathon]

I'm a little surprised that they estimated so low on their sales of Demon's Souls, I loved it, even when it was handing my ass to me on a silver platter. That said I'm really looking forward to its sequel, I'll definitely be snagging a copy.

 

[AfterAscon]

Now they just need to release it in Europe so us 'civilised' people can play it.

 

[Hazy]

Now they just need to release it in Europe so us 'civilised' people can play it.

And by what do you mean of that, kind sir?

 

[The DSM]

ATLUS deserve it, they make awesome games.

If they want one sure sale, they should release Persona 5 on 360 *Hint hint*

 

[AfroTree]

Now they just need to release it in Europe so us 'civilised' people can play it.

fucking agreed
I want a credit card..just so I could import ;_;

that or, you know, go to wherever-ville and buy it, but no ;_;

 

[Soxafloppin]

That must be the greatest feeling in the world for the developers.

I admit, it does seem fun.

 

[Jared]

That has gotta be a sign for the developers. I bet they never expected it to be so epicly profitable for them.

Maybe will release second one in the EU area next time!

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

Now they just need to release it in Europe so us 'civilised' people can play it.

Korean version is region free n in English, thats how I managed to play it

Awesome gmae, proud to complete it, gutted I never got through NG+

 

[AfterAscon]

Now they just need to release it in Europe so us 'civilised' people can play it.

And by what do you mean of that, kind sir?

Its kind of patronising that they haven't release it over yet. I'd imagine they didn't have high hopes for Demon's Souls because they didn't think the US audience would like it. Yet not releasing in europe means that they thought we would have less receptive to it, this is also considering the PS3 is supposed to be doing better in Europe than NA.

It just seems a bit silly to me missing out on this market.

 

[Pendragon9]

Well, it's a FROM SOFTWARE game, so I'm not surprised.

They always go underestimated.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Yay for Atlus and From Software!

Getting some money for their efforts.

 

[Hazy]

Now they just need to release it in Europe so us 'civilised' people can play it.

And by what do you mean of that, kind sir?

Its kind of patronising that they haven't release it over yet. I'd imagine they didn't have high hopes for Demon's Souls because they didn't think the US audience would like it. Yet not releasing in europe means that they thought we would have less receptive to it, this is also considering the PS3 is supposed to be doing better in Europe than NA.

It just seems a bit silly to me missing out on this market.

I agree, it's a shame. Have you thought of importing it?

It may be pricey, yet it's well worth it.