Dark Souls sold 2,367,000 copies, 360 version of Dark Souls 2 will get Japanese release

Incorporate additional elements for "DARK SOULS with ARTORIAS OF THE ABYSS EDITION", the PC version and PS3 version in Japan, PS3 version, 360 version Xbox, PC version was released, respectively, in foreign countries. In total unit sales of all of these. It's that has reached 2.36 million

[NYC_Gamer]

DS proves that niche games can be very successful

[Godmars290]

If you mind production costs. Can find a balance with quality and graphics.

*Onto Square-hate hobby-horse*
That seems to be another difference between Squaresoft and Square Enix. Or maybe where Squaresoft started to lose it and S/E kept up the trend. they were from making their averagely produced games look budgeted to demanding that each be "AAA" in regards to cost and especially returns.

[HammadTheBeast]

And it's great that all 11 of the people in Japan with 360's will be able to enjoy it finally.

I jest, I jest... :D

[AKS]

I wonder what the average wait time will be for some jolly cooperation on Japanese 360 servers.

http://bulk.destructoid.com...

Still, it's cool that those few 360 owners in Japan can actually get a copy now. It's a game that should not be missed.

[dedicatedtogamers]

I hope DS2 sells twice as much as DS. It deserves high sales better than - for example - Skyrim.

[ichimaru]

why are these two games always compared. they are nothing alike and both great fun

[greatcrusader44]

Don't understand why people always have to down something while they're praising another. Yeah they're both RPGs but they're really nothing like each other. I love both franchises, Elder Scrolls get my exploring itch scratched, and I'm not entirely sure what the Souls games are scratching, but it feels mighty good.

[hkgamer]

The budget for these two games are so different it will be hard to match the sales.

I'm pretty sure the DS team is tiny, had less time to complete and barely any marketing budget. So DS is pretty much a huge success with the sales number which they have hit.

[Tultras]

They're compared because, they are both the elites in their own respective genres.

It's like, comparing COD and Battlefield, are they anything alike? No, Can you stop the inevitable comparisons between them? No.

But people will endlessly compare them because they are at the top of their respective categories.

[Oh_Yeah]

Do you think the game would sell even better if it had options for difficulty?

[DragonKnight]

No.

[bluetoto]

yes.

[mt]

I don't know about that but I remember the only reason I bought Demon Souls because everyone kept saying the game is so hard, so I bought to find out myself how hard can this game gets.

[AKS]

It wouldn't be the same game. If you're charging around corners with your shield down, you're not getting the real Souls experience.

[Oh_Yeah]

@mt that's the reason I got into the series also...but if they did give it an easier option it's not like it would effect us, we'd still play it on the default difficulty while others who maybe held off on the game because of difficulty would now be more inclined to pick it up...Just thinking about all gamers and the benefits it may bring the dev.

[admiralvic]

It would sell worse. The games only sold because people wanted to see what it was all about.

[Veneno]

Who cares about the sales? What I do know is with difficulty options the game would be terrible. The fear that you can be killed by any enemy in the game is the backbone of Demons Souls.

[King_many_layers]

I care about sales to an extent.

I want to see good games continue to exist and outsell games that simply cannot offer the same quality of an experience.

[Jeenoman]

Exactly. That's the only reason why sales matter. Especially for niche games - because we want them to continue and improve!

[admiralvic]

The only thing DS proves, is that not everyone is into "hand holding'. There have been several other niche games that became successful, some (not many) even more so than DS, but DS is a unique case...

DS became popular for two key that would be virtually impossible to replicate. The first is that consumers hyped up the difficulty of the title. In the early days it was FAR more likely you knew Demon Souls was almost impossible, than what type of game it was, gameplay, story or even why the game was "impossible". The other reason was the lack of western release. We kept hearing / seeing / hyping how hard the game was and over time it became a "skill" tester, which resulted in many people importing / hyping the title up further. When the game was FINALLY announced for the US / EU, so many people wanted to see if they were good enough to beat it, that the game continued to get hype / talked about. By the time Dark Souls released, it was pretty much riding on all the Demon Souls hype, which lead to the success. Trust me, if the game released in the US right off the bat... it wouldn't have been anywhere near what is today.

[StockpileTom]

I bought Demon's Souls because it was exactly what I was looking for in this world of watered down games. That "Intense Action" trailer is what sold me on the game. I have not even heard of Demon's Souls before then but that trailer sent a powerful message that it was the game I was always looking for.

Most developers these days treat us all like we are stupid and give up easily. The games kept getting easier and more boring. The same can be said with publishers going to great detail to control the box art to mimic more successful games. They aren't looking to appeal to gamers... they are trying to bait those impulse buyers out there.

In my case Demon's Souls was an impulse buy. That trailer obviously wasn't completely accurate but I still wasn't disappointed. Its rare that any form of advertisement makes me want something. More often than not an ad makes me dislike a product.

[bluetoto]

@Admiralvic

couldn't agree more. I bought DeS just to see what was so difficult about the game only to find out otherwise. It's hard, not difficult, there's a difference in my book.

People hyped up the game to hype up their own ego for whatever personal reasons. They changed many things and added numerous new options from Des to DS without changing the core gameplay and I hope they continue to do so in the future.

I'll never understand someone complaining about options they never have to use, I mean one can save the game anywhere outside of combat or one can travel from demon to demon without saving, increasing the tension and fear of losing all those souls with one false move. Two different playstyles, same game.

How does me playing in a pure black world offline affect player x playing his game in pure white offline? Same game, different levels of difficulty as pure white is a LOT more forgiving then pure black. Someone feel free to explain to the masses where the conflict lies?( here's your shot DK).

[SilentNegotiator]

No, it proves that genres that publishers REGARD as "niche" (because they've ignored them for so long, all trying to get the COD crowd) can be popular.

If more developers put MEANINGFUL work into real stealth, horror, etc games, they too would be successful.

[kevinbenitez2012]

11 people you say? Seems extraordinarily high.

[Bobby Kotex]

Demon's Souls was Gamespot's game of the year. They became pretty mainstream after that.

[grassyknoll]

Amazing numbers. Well deserved success!

[BanBrother]

Amazing numbers indeed. Just wait until it is released on Xbox in Japan, it will have even better numbers. Analysts suggest that lifetime sales could be pushed up to 2,367,001 when the 360 version is releasee over there /s.

[CEOSteveBallmer]

Better numbers for Xbox in japan?? I knew it your an Xbox fanboy. My conspiracy theories offended you about microsoft paying people to talk good about them. Point is its not impossible for them to do so and its just a theory I never said I have evidence. I have agrees because they think so too and is afraid to post such comment because they will have replies from Microsoft defenders like you. How can it have better numbers in japan. You dont even know how badly Xbox 360 is faring well in japan. Just look at mediacreate at the present state of Xbox in japan. Blind Fanboy!!

[sway_z]

The Xbox 360 must have passed 1 million units in Japan. Rarely do publishers release a game at this late stage in the hardware life cycle if sales were below that.

They must really dislike the Xbox Brand there....?

If Microsoft are still interested in cracking Japan, they should either partner or license the Next Xbox hardware to another manufacturer like JVC or Panasonic and completely remove the Xbox/MS branding.

Once the Next Xbox sales are strong, then Microsoft could release their own version of the console part way through the life cycle.

Sneaky, but you got to do something...oh, and Dark Souls deserves the success :)

[Godmars290]

And how do they get away with pushing their branded online service?

[sway_z]

I have many friends in Japan, and MS is seen as uncool in Japan. I don't think the Japanese will care too much about the 'online service branding' so much as the design of the console and it's face branding on the unit itself, and on the packaging.

It could easily have 'Powered by LIVE' for the branding online....the online service is less of an issue to the Japan Market than the actual image MS have.

I apologize if it seemed like I was trolling, I am not, I enjoy my 360 gaming as much as PS3. I just want MS to break Japan is all :)

[miyamoto]

Good point there. Knowing the Japanese economic crisis they may really disliked paid online gaming on top of expensive game retail prices.

[Fishermenofwar]

I'm not trolling...But How many 360s have been sold in Japan all together?

[Mouktouk]

I know VGchartz aren't taken much seriously here at N4G, but according to them, the Xbox 360 sold around 1,64 million units in Japan since its release.

[squallcloud9]

Less than 500 000 should still be in working condition.

[hollabox]

While its good DS is coming to Japan for the 360, it did pretty good in Japan on the PS3. I think the developers might be better off porting Dark Souls to the Wii U. I don't think sales will be great on the Wii U but I'm certain it will sale more than the Xbox 360 version in Japan.

Any who its well known American gaming systems and games do not do well in Japan excluding Apple devices. On the PS3 you have games like GOW 3, Uncharted 2&3 not even cracking 500,000 units sold combined in Japan. When it comes to Japan home grown products like Final Fantasy, Mario, Yakuza, and Resident Evil series you start to see games sell over 500,000 units plus.

[SymphonicRain]

I actually know a Japanese guy that plays on 360. He was a foreign exchange student at my high school two years ago, but we don't get to play that often because I rarely buy gold subscriptions.

Funny thing is, I almost thought he died, because he was going home in March, the month that the earthquake hit. My heart was literally racing!

[Cam977]

This game deserves every bit of success it gets.
Congratulations, and thankyou for the magnificent world you crafted, From Software!
You are one of the best, most unique developers of this gen!

[gamedebater]

Niche game create Niche fans that will always buy. Many developers can learn from this rather than making there games like everyone else.

[DaThreats]

Waste of time for the 360 version in Japan, won't sell more than 40g units.

[Godmars290]

But with a translation from the PS3 version and it already converted to the 360 from other market, anything sold past printing costs is only profit.

[k2d]

40 - grand-?

[sdozzo]

Great Series! Sif.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

I wonder how much Demon's Souls sold. Sally sells seashells by the seashore.

[KingKelloggTheWH]

Dark souls-2.15 3 console
Demons-1.71 console

Per system Demons sold much better

[v1c1ous]

or maybe those who own more than one console caused a more varied console sales figure?

crazy i know, people owning more than one console.

[DivineAssault]

Im very happy this series caught on with people.. I remember buying demons souls on launch day thinking to myself "I really hope people acknowledge/buy this game so i can play online"... Now its spiritual successor is getting sequel & people are excited! Arguably the best series ever made this gen.. Way better than any other ARPGs..

Xbox fans, even if u dont like RPGs, & if u never played it, TRY THIS GAME!

[Rikuson1]

I find it funny when it was exclusive everyone would overlook the game just because it had the title "Ps3 exclusive" on it (same goes for Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm 1). As soon as it goes multiplatiform people act like they've always cared about the game. The same thing could have happened to Resistance, Infamous or Uncharted if they went multiplatform on their second game but everyone over looks this.. Not being a fan boy or anything because the same thing happened to Mass Effect series with Ps3 owners. The difference is they got Mass Effect 1 afterwards.

[MaideninBlack]

Not really. http://bit.ly/SmClWY

Little Big Planet 1 has sold twice as much as Dark Souls and the second game is near 3m.

Uncharted 2 is the best selling game in the franchise with nearly 6m sold and the other two double DS's numbers.

Sure certain games would have sold more if Sony didn't own the IPs but as PS3 exclusives they've managed to perform better or the same as Dark Souls, a game available on 3 platforms.

[GABRIEL1030]

Darks Souls in PS3 sold 1.460.000 copies, in 360 690.000 and in PC only 100.000. The original Demon's Souls sold 1.690.000 copies and maybe for the hype to be PS3 exclusive.

I prefeer to buy exclusive games, because are the identity of the system. In some cases going multiplataform is a bad deal, incases like Final Fantasy Series.

[Mister_G]

Based on those sales DS2 doesn't need to change too many things.

[ps3_pwns]

its a waste of money to release it on x360 in japan. if they dont have money why they keep releasing this stuff where no one is gonna buy it. the game sold 1.4 million on the ps3 alone and then 300 thousand on pc and the rest on x360 and it only sold 2.3 million total

[darren_poolies]

This is excellent news, I'm so glad it was successful. Dark Souls is my favourite game of all time and I think the Souls series is definitely the bets new series this gen. The wait for DS2 is going to kill me.

GO BEYOND DEATH

[Sharius]

something i want in DS2:
- Patch must come back and keep trolling
- Some good guy like Biorr or Solaire must have and spead his awesomeness thuoght the game
- throw in a chick....
- .... and no, keep the love f*cking interest out of the Souls series, in the world where everyone will become insane sooner or late, love interest is just.... insane
- the-guy-who-sit-at-the-begin-o f-the-game-and-make-sure-the-p l ayer-will-become-insane-like-h i m ...ok, or i'll just call him crestfallen warrior for short must have, and buff him a little bit and put him at the start of the game to make sure that 1 miss-attack from noob player mean begin another new game

and the last one, this is personal, bring maiden in black back to this game, won't you?

edit: one last thought keep the toturial boss more deathly, and if possible make a server count of how many online souls he has been collect when he kill the players, i think that will be hilarous to see that number will keep raising, hey maybe the good idea, lets make every boss have kill count as well

[GABRIEL1030]

Dark Souls and Demons Souls are great games¡

Sorry for say this: But is more of the same¡. the game will be overexploited.

I'm a little dissapointed, because this game is very similar to Dark souls, with more detailed graphics, new enemies and locations; the game is slighty different from the original. I expected a new game with an entire open world, villages, large location, horse riding ,massive online battles, open wide areas and specially for the next gen. Demons Souls is enough for me, I'll pass.

[Kaiou]

Villages?? populated by what ? friendly NPCs and quest givers ? , oh and horse riding ? in a Souls game where you are supposed to be absolutely alone at all times?!! . guild wars 2 or wow won't disappoint you in that case. But Dark Souls shall never be like that.

[GABRIEL1030]

Yeah you are right, unfortunately the game is destined to be a merely dungeon experience, the game is great but is very limited. I'll wait until the next Elder Scrolls for PS4 or 720.