Atlus profit down to Demon's Souls

By Robert Purchese Published 22 October, 2010

He who dares wins.

Atlus, the publisher that brought Demon's Souls West, has posted a profit. And the two events are entirely linked.

Last year's operating income loss of $1.2 million transformed into a positive $5 million this year (1st September 2009 to 31st August 2010), according to Siliconera.

Index Holdings, the parent company of Atlus, picked out Demon's Souls as the reason why. A slide of Atlus' released games was half filled by the box-art of From Software's celebrated action-RPG; on the other half, nine titles struggled to be seen.

Index Holdings didn't appear to mention exact sales figures, but we'll try to find them out.

Sony Japan first released PS3 exclusive Demon's Souls on 5th February 2009. Atlus' US launch happened nine months later on 6th October 2009, before Europe finally joined the party on 25th June 2010 courtesy of Namco Bandai Partners.

PS3 games aren't region-locked, however, which meant many of you had already imported Demon's Souls from the US. Eurogamer tracked the game all the way from Japan, importing the original version for review way back in April 2009. Eurogamer talked to elusive game director Hidetaka Miyazaki a year later to discuss the brave design decisions behind Demon's Souls.

A spiritual successor to Demon's Souls is in development under the name of Project Dark. Apparently From Software wanted to mark the game as a departure from Demon's Souls, although Project Dark is aimed at the same hardcore audience.

From Software pulled the curtain back on Project Dark at the Tokyo Game Show 2010 last month. It's a PS3 exclusive in Japan, but will add an Xbox 360 version for its journey West. A Japanese launch is pencilled for next year.

Will Namco Bandai bring this to Europe? "Wait and see" was all Eurogamer could prize from its lips.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (30) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Les #1 2 years ago

    Great game, need to play it some more, but am so spare-time challenged currently. Haven't sat down to play a proper game in months... :(

  • Plewt #2 2 years ago

    Don't think I've been as hyped as I am for the sequel since the original Half-Life.

  • andywilkie35 #3 2 years ago

    Hopefully this is a lesson that they will learn from - ridiculous not to release great games in the West, so when they make their next game, hopefully they'll release it over here with umming and aahing for a year.

  • sfp_noodle #4 2 years ago

    Know what you mean Les. I went on holiday shortly after buying Demon's Souls and since I've been back I've been busy with University. All I get time for is a few games of Fifa with some mates. I'm always tempted to play DS but I don't want to ruin the experience by only playing half an hour at a time. I won't be able to get into it properly. DS has number 1 priority for me this Christmas. I won't be playing another game until I finish that

  • JohnnyWashnGo #5 2 years ago

    Well done Atlus... they have been properly rewarded for being brave and releasing a game in the west when others didn't want to. Even Sony themselves missed out on the opportunity to bring this great game to the west.

    Its companies like Atlus that I tend to support these days. In fact, the last 5 games I bought for the DS were all from Atlus. They are more willing than most to take a chance on something niche.

  • systems #6 2 years ago

    A game I loved so much I bought it twice.

  • iamian #7 2 years ago

    @sfp_noodle
    I won't be playing another game until I finish that
    a bold statement! good luck ;)

  • butler` #8 2 years ago

    That would be up a good 20%+ if the Sony EU suits had a clue.

  • PlugMonkey #9 2 years ago

    Good on them for not simply peddling out a sequel.

    I want more stuff from the same people, not just more Demons Souls.

  • youhavenomail #10 2 years ago

    I read this headline as 'Atlus profit down due to Demon's Souls' until I saw the 'He who dares wins' sub.

    Well done to Atlus for daring and winning.

  • SilverNeon #11 2 years ago

    No mention of Trauma team from them afaik which is a great game, I wonder if that will ever release in Europe.
    Edited by SilverNeon at 22/10/10 @ 10:56

  • Golgo #12 2 years ago

    Great news. Amazing how word originally got around through the fans. It's a superb game, hope this encourages them to bring out a sequel (and iron out one or two of the niggles).

  • Stop-gap #13 2 years ago

    I wonder what those profits would have been like if all the Asian imports were domestic sales. Either way I'm glad someone did well out of DS, they deserved it.

  • PlugMonkey #14 2 years ago

    "EG can take some of the glory for posting an early one as far as mainstream sites go. "

    And Keza deserves a shout as well. That is probably the best video game review I have ever read. Never have I made a more informed choice about a game.

    Demons Souls is such a love it or hate it experience, and if you read that review, you should come away knowing exactly which camp you are in.

  • Golgo #15 2 years ago

    @Chaney: there were some online reviews, in the small handful of sites that review imports (like Eurogamer). Obviously more when fan excitement got it released in US and then Europe.

  • TopKatt #16 2 years ago

    Just for a second there I misread the headline and thought that Atlus's profits were down due to Demon's Souls! Excellent game, finished it twice, something I hardly ever do and I will play it through again.

  • Cappy #17 2 years ago

    "Wait and see" was all Eurogamer could prize from its lips.

    That's prise, not prize.

  • ZuluHero #18 2 years ago

    @Cappy

    Nowadays both are acceptable.

    EDIT: Probably an americanism, although I wouldn't like to say for certain, i've been surprised in the past :)
    Edited by ZuluHero at 22/10/10 @ 12:30

  • retr0gamer #19 2 years ago

    Glad to see Atlus making a profit. They've been pumping out nothing but amazing games and it took them to tkae Demon's Souls to the West despite those idiots in Sony thinking it would flop.

  • smithdown #20 2 years ago

    This is great news. I only just found out about Project Dark (how the hell did that slip past me??) and now I am uber-excited about it! Well done Atlus, and FROM.

  • adamskidunc #21 2 years ago

    how much from titus the fox?

  • mkreku #22 2 years ago

    The Eurogamer import review was the reason I bought it for my cousin this Xmas, so I also want to give a shout out to Keza. Thanks!

    And I love success stories like this. Go Atlus!

  • darc #23 2 years ago

    Amazing performance from a game that they seemed so reluctant to bring to the West. It's so ironic now to see it repackaged with the "Greatest Hits" labeling.

    Totally deserved though. This game's in my all-time top 10. If Project Dark captures the same magic it'll be like lightning striking twice!

  • icelt #24 2 years ago

    Agreed the Eurogamer review was most excellent. However we would be quite remiss to not give a shout out to GameSpot for giving DS its Game of the Year award for 2009. Ironic as that is given their admission in the recent past to giving positive review treatment to the highest bidder.
    http://www.gamespot.com/best-of/game-of-...

  • TRUTH #25 2 years ago

    More games are needed like this, with less COD and silly over the top simplistic hack n slash games. DS has it all: strategy, atmosphere, rpg that's deeper then most games and realtime, action with thought, adventure...This is what Castlevania LOS should have been - but it became another action hack n slash with all the deep elements removed...Roll on DS II.

  • SlapLaB #26 2 years ago

    I'm in trouble - please recommend this message

  • Murton #27 2 years ago

    Sony must be really kicking themselves over not signing this up worldwide.

    I'm not really big on Japanese games but gave this a punt purely to see what all the fuss was about and I'm glad I did, I almost missed out on something really special just because it wasn't in my particular niche, kudos to Atlus for being willing to deviate from the norm in an industry that is becoming more cookie cutter every quarter.

    EDIT:
    @ SlapLab: I lol'ed. +1
    Edited by Murton at 22/10/10 @ 19:05

  • Oh-Bollox #28 2 years ago

    Does this mean Jap devs will stop fucking ignoring Europe in future? I hope so.

  • darc #29 2 years ago

    "I'm not really big on Japanese games but gave this a punt purely to see what all the fuss was about..."

    Yeah, Demon's Souls actually has a rather Western (hemisphere, not "Red Dead Redemption" Western) feel IMO. It's certainly no "JRPG" and it drives me nuts when it's referred to as such based simply on its country of origin. (It's like saying all European and American films are "Westerns". :)
    Edited by darc at 22/10/10 @ 19:52

  • UKArch #30 2 years ago

    Being good it gets you stuff