The PlayStation 5 remake of Demon’s Souls from Bluepoint Games has sold more than 1.4 million copies since its release as a PS5 launch title, according to Sony. Along with its original release, this brings Demon’s Souls’ total sales to more than 2 million copies across all platforms, not bad for a title that was once expected to be a commercial failure.
When FromSoftware first debuted Demon’s Souls at trade fairs in Japan, it was met with negative reactions as the title was deemed far too hard. Then Sony president Shuhei Yoshida even called it “an unbelievably bad game” after he spent two hours playing Demon’s Souls and couldn’t even get past the starter area. This led Sony to pass on publishing the game outside of Japan, fully expecting it to be a commercial failure. Luckily for FromSoftware, North American publisher ATLUS and European publisher Bandai Namco felt differently.
Positive word of mouth and third-party publisher promotion led Demon’s Souls to sell far better in Europe and North America than was first predicted, selling out in many stores upon release. Demon’s Souls had sold three times the number of copies ATLUS expected to shift in North America and the game was eventually released under Sony’s Greatest Hits label. Two years after its release, the title had shifted around 1 million copies on PlayStation 3.
Bluepoint Games’ PS5 remake was understandably expected to be successful, and it achieved those expectations. Our review described it as “an excellent archstone to pass through for newcomers and Boletarian veterans alike.” Sony revealed that Demon’s Souls has sold 1.4 million copies on PS5 alone as of September 19, 2021, a total reached in just over ten months since the game’s release on November 12, 2020. Sony has previously denied the Demon’s Souls remake would also be making its way to PC for a wider audience, although a recent database leak suggests it might still be a possibility.
This game’s success, as well as Bluepoint’s PS4 remasters of Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection and Gravity Rush, and the Shadow of the Colossus remake, have led to the studio becoming Sony’s latest acquisition. Bluepoint is now working on “original content,” so not a remaster or remake, but what this will be in the end remains to be seen.
[Source: Sony Interactive Entertainment]