Atlus profit down to Demon's Souls
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.