Sony admits Demons Souls mistake

A Sony representative has admitted to 1UP that SCEA’s decision not to publish From Software’s PS3 RPG Demon’s Souls in North America was a mistake”.

The game, which was published by Sony in Japan, has become one of the surprise hits of recent months. Initially regarded as a niche project, just 15,000 copies were included in the initial shipment but word-of-mouth and strong reviews have lead to global sales of nearly 250k.

The admission comes after record profits for Atlus, who published the game in North America. The company recently reported an operating profit of $3.81m during its last quarter – a 578.5 per cent year-on-year increase.

However, Atlus only has the North American publishing rights, meaning that the path is still open for a possible European release. Atlus doesn’t self-publish in Europe, preferring instead to release its games through publishing partners. Former tie-ups include Square Enix, Koei and Rising Star.

One thing we can be certain of is that Sony won’t be publishing the game in Europe with an SCEE spokesperson confirming to MCV that it has no plans to release the game.