So, Demon's Souls was a surprise win for Atlus, being one of the few games published by that company to sell well in North America. The classic PS3 exclusive was one of 2009's biggest surprises, and that fact has not escaped Sony's eye. In fact, Sony's Yeonkyung Kim took enough notice to regret his company passing up the chance to publish it.
According to Kim, Demon's Souls' unique gameplay and unmistakably Japanese flavor caused SCEA and SCEE to balk, believing the game would fail in the West. Sony declined the opportunity to pick it up, letting Atlus reap the rewards instead.
"That was a mistake," laments Kim. "It should have come out as a first-party title."
It's a good job that we have companies like Atlus around to pick up the ball when other companies so readily drop it. Atlus deserved to publish that game more than Sony, considering its long history of giving us Westerners the type of games we might never get to play otherwise. Perhaps in future, bigger publishers can stop being so arrogant and realize that the unique and strange games they ignore are capable of selling, if only somebody has the balls to market the thing.
GDC 2010: The Changing Face of Localization [1UP]
Jim Sterling serves as reviews editor for Destructoid.com, head of the Podtoid podcast, and produces a number of news stories, original features, one-of-a-kind videos. With his passionate argumentative style, controversial opinions, harsh delivery, and dedication to brutal honesty Sterling is a name that you can't help but recognize.
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Contest:
11:00 PM on 03.15.2010
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Maybe next time SCEE will pull their "Not enough americanized" mentality up their asses and start supporting quality games like these.
3D Dot Game Heroes GET!
I got this game for Christmas and (being on break) beat it by mid-January. Just two months later, I got to thinking about it and had to go back for New Game+. There's something so alluring about it. Maiden Astraea is one of my favorite bosses in any game; the implied backstory for her and Garl Vinland is fat with depth.
I really hope Sony backs them on the inevitable sequel (unless that would hurt Atlus or From Software somehow). Demon's Souls 2 must be every bit as brilliant as the first.
Also, DLC for the ruined 6th Archstone? Pretty please?
Well if Sony goes and publishes a sequel Atlus would clearly gain nothing out of the deal. If a sequel is made I honestly hope Atlus USA gets first dibs, they deserve the profit since they're the whole reason it was a success in the US in the first place. Plus Atlus deserves to have a few more successful franchises, given all the great niche games they release that don't garner big sales.
There is no game on the face of the planet that could possibly sell enough for Atlus to buy out a behemoth like S-E. (Not to mention this has more to do with Atlus USA, the publishing branch, than Atlus of Japan, who actually develops games.)
I know but I love atlus so much :( wish they could take over the world but anyways I hope Sony learns their lesson passing up on the GOTY 09 also NIS kicks ass k I'm done
If Demon's Soul was publish by Sony, he would be the first and last to shit on this game and never talk about it.
But now, sony admit their mistake ( WHICH IS A GOOD POINT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! )
And Jim the fatty ugly go shit about it.
I hate this fanboy
the same above statement could be applied to Yakuza and things in the same plain of "we skipped it cause we assumed it wouldn't sell".
That's what Sony gets for assuming.
Truth.
And yeah, I'm soooo happy Sony didn't pick Demon's Souls themselves. If they would, I would never see my awesome Collector's Edition of the game. No way Sony would make such an edition for such a niche title.
that said, i actually only just bought demon's souls yesterday on import as it's still not recieved a EU release date. so somebody better do something about that