Atlus to maintain Demon's Souls servers until 2011

by Richard Mitchell on Jul 21st 2010 6:29PM

This is your lucky day, masochists! Atlus has announced that it will extend support for Demon's Souls' online servers until "at least" March 2011. When the game shipped in April 2009, the Demon's Souls user agreement made it clear that online functionality would be sponsored for "no less than six months". Now it would appear that the game's surprising success has led Atlus to extend that commitment significantly.

In celebration, Atlus is flipping the Demon's Souls World Tendency to Pure White, which will knock the controller-snapping difficulty down a few notches. The change should last for "a couple weeks," just long enough to lull newcomers into a false sense of security.

Show full PR text

ATLUS EXTENDS NORTH AMERICAN ONLINE SUPPORT FOR DEMON'S SOULS, 2009 GAME OF THE YEAR*, THROUGH AT LEAST MARCH 2011; WORLD TENDENCY SHIFTS TO PURE WHITE IN CELEBRATION
Good news, everyone!
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA -- JULY 21, 2010 -- Atlus U.S.A., Inc. today announced it would continue supporting servers for online play in Demon's Souls™, 2009's Game of the Year* for PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, through at least March 2011.

"We are proud to maintain our commitment to the Demon's Souls online community by extending our support for the game's servers, allowing current and new players to continue to enjoy the game's vast online feature set," stated Aram Jabbari, Manager of PR and Sales for Atlus. "One of the highest-rated, most talked about games of all time, Demon's Souls is defined by its groundbreaking online functionality. No other game better marries suspenseful, claustrophobic solitude with unprecedented cooperative and competitive multiplayer connectivity. Each game world, each individual's adventure, can be bridged with those of others', making for one of the most startlingly grand yet deeply intimate RPG experiences ever created."

To celebrate the announcement, the game server's World Tendency, a variable that can make the game more or less difficult and unlock secrets depending on its setting, will be shifted to Pure White for a couple weeks, making the notoriously challenging game slightly easier for newcomers while also allowing long-time veterans to reach otherwise inaccessible areas and items.

Demon's Souls is out now for PlayStation 3 system. For more information, visit the game's official website.

Tags: Atlus, Demons-Souls, From-Software, playstation, ps3

Reader Comments (73)

I didn't know having a Pure White Tendency makes it easier o_O

@Ahmedz - Lesser loot and EXP though (if I'm remembering correctly)

@BananaBoat

when its Pure White or Pure Black it also opens up the black/white events for loot.

@Ahmedz Yea PWT is easier with less good drops. Demon's Souls was amazing tho, one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had. Ended up getting platinum in it.

@Ahmedz
wow well that's amazing, I'm about to start this game tomorrow and Im feeling a bit intimidated by it.

@Ahmedz

Not only does it get a bit easier, but for those who don't know there are certain things that can only be accomplished/attained in a pure white or a pure black world. After playing the game through a few times over, I can say that it is *much* harder to attain a pure black tendency.

It is possible to get yourself in a situation where you can't get the world back to pure white unless you beat the game and start over. If you are thinking about this game and intend on attaining everything you can, I would pick it up ASAP and play it while tendency is still pure white, if only to make some of the items easier/quicker to attain.

@Stormbarrier you mean, it's harder to attain pure WHITE right?.

to reach pure white - you have to slain bosses and unique black phantoms, since they're the only enemies that do not revive at each play, if you miss the pure white events the next chance will only be at a new game +.

to reach pure black - kill the living!! NPCs or Players including yourself, dying as a phantom does not change tendency, but you can use ephemeral stones to ressurect and kill yourself 5 or 6 times and ta daa - pure black.

i recommend anyone attempting tendency sidequests to play OFFLINE, the game syncs with Atlus' servers and resets things to neutral often.

Great game. Play it about 10% of the time when I'm on the PS3. Kicks my ass 100% of the time, though.

For a game that is supposed to be so successful, having only 2 years worth of multiplayer support seems like a really crappy deal.

And this is why I am against all this online authentication crap. They could very well pull this on a game that needs to be authenticated, and boom, you're screwed.

@Xocolatl

They did say "at least." And success is relative. Success for a smaller publisher like Atlus isn't anywhere near what success means for the first parties and big publishers like EA, Activision, Ubisoft, Square-Enix, etc. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this success of theirs sold less then the hundreds-of-thousands-sellers that you'll often see those companies refer to as commerical failures. In fact, didn't the last Tomb Raider game sell like a million, only for Eidos(?) to consider those sales underwhelming?

I'd be intereseted to see just how successful Demon's Souls actually did, considering its more or less niche market. Yeah, it was certainly a critical success, but that doesn't necessarily imply it was a commercial one as well.

@Xocolatl

The online portion of the game is woven directly into the single player experience, if the servers shut down today there wouldn't be much of a noticable difference unless you play the game strictly for PVP.

I agree though, 2-3 years isn't long enough to keep them open for all who would want to experience it.

@jrr That's a load of crap, and it's sad that they've got people thinking that. Shutting down servers for something popular is ridiculous, and the video game industry makes a pathetic habit of it.

As someone who owns a few servers in a data center, I can assure you the costs of keeping them running is not that high (unless you're using one of those rip-off companies like Hypernia or something).

I'm tired of companies shutting down servers after only a year or two, there's absolutely no reason for it.

Make no mistake, they're screwing the customers.

@Kid Icarus Or you could just buy the game when it comes out instead of trying to be cheap and get it for like $10-20.

@Kid Icarus
I have to agree with you that in the case of Demon's Soul, the game multiplayer isn't the most important facet of the game play. But it serves as a stark warning that your favorite games will shut down some day.
I don't mind if this is some MMOs. I feel that MMOs live by the quality of their communities--without communities (which is when an MMO dies), it's not worth playing.
But games that uses the server only to authenticate the game and a lobby, which relies on only multiplayer aspect will be pretty much ripped straight from you, even thought you should be able to play it without the company losing any money.
I guess I'm just complaining for the sake of complaining. All good things must come to an end. I just wish I get to choose when the end comes, rather than having the decision forced on me by a company.

@Follisimo

the game came out for US late last year, they're already talking about possible closure of the pvp portion of it. soooo...... ?

There is so much wrong with this little thread, it's painful.

First, the game's online portion is a small portion of the game. The messages are the most prominent part. Sometimes they do give some good hints too, and I like this feature, because it can help without totally giving things away like in a FAQ.

I don't really see much wrong with this though, it's a single player game, and the idea that they need to keep paying for what is honestly a novelty in the game long after it's bringing in money is just not a financially viable option. The game will still be Demon's Souls without the Online Mode. It will lose a little bit of the cool features that the online mode adds, but it's not like shutting down the multiplayer servers for a Halo or Call of Duty game, and that's what you guys are making this out to be.

Finally, Follisimo, your comment was nothing less than stupid as hell. Not everyone has the money to buy every new game on release day. That's absurdly expensive. Most of us buy a game now and then, and for the others that we want, we HAVE to wait until the come down in price, or buy used. There's absolutely nothing wrong with it.

@Xocolatl

This is why dedicated servers on pc games are superior. There are people still playing Quake online. Pick up any pc online game with dedicated (and user-hostable) servers and people are still playing it.

@Follisimo

There is nothing wrong in buying a game for less than 60 dollars, and considering how many games come out in a month and the time you have to play them before buying new ones it's logic that when you buy some of them the price won't be the same.

Wait what?

I was considering buying this game, but now that I know it's shutting down in less than a year, I think I'll pass.

@Deozaan
Did you even read the post?

Besides, the single player part is easily 90% of what I spent my time on.

@Deozaan

As for someone who has Platinum this game, from here until next year March is more than enough time to do everything (more than 10 times over) if you get it within this year.

@sigma8
You mean the part where it says March 2011? Yeah. That's less than a year away (about 9 months).

@RagingStormX Well that's good to know. I was actually thinking of buying the game this week.

@RagingStorm - Agreed. Unless your goal is to end up on the leaderboards (in which case you are WAY late anyway, and it is probably impossible) there is no reason why someone shouldn't buy this game now. There is more than enough time to do everything in the game.

@Deozaan

Actually, I think he meant the part where he said "at least."

@Deozaan

You don't know that, and neither do they. They said "at least." until that date. Doesn't sound very definite to me.

@Deozaan

Does the online component include all the little messages left from other people? If so, that's a good part of what made this game so unique.

@Deozaan

My friend, do YOU a favor and don't EVER do that.

Buy the game. If you didn't know that, you'd still buy it. If they'd shut down the servers this year before announcing and you'd already had the game it you'd have enjoyed it.

Man, Demon's Souls is one of the best games on the PS3, it's way better than many RPGs out there, it's innovative, it's difficult it got TONS of customization.

It's my game of the year 2009 and one of the best games i've ever played in my whole life, I swear.

@Deozaan - The game will still be worth every penny after they shut the servers down. The online features are more like a bonus in the game. It's purely a single player experience. PvP and co-op are neat, and they can be useful, but they are far from necessary.

@Deozaan
Nice job. Too bad that wasn't the only part. Try reading the whole post. Nobody said they're shutting it down in March 2011.

@Deozaan

The online factor is not that important in the game, I play it most of the time offline. If you can deal with the punishing difficulty it's a great game, IMO don't give up on it, the first times I played it I wanted to smash the controller but after a while I just can't stop playing it.

@Ashkental it's also one of my favorite action-RPGs of all time, it's a totally engrossing and addictive game.

and yes, although the main portion of the game is offline, the creativity involved in the online components were brilliant, and set an already solid game apart from everything else.

maybe they are shooting down servers next year because the sequel is coming???? Oh please,make it happen, Sony and From! :(

It's a great game even when you're playing off-line, and now that it's cheap it's still a good deal even if the servers were shut down today.

@Deozaan read the article. it says at least march 2011. meaning as long as there is significant interest they will keep them going. do yourself a favor, pick it up. its great even in single player

@PurpleFries hardcore reply fail

I didn't realize they intended to shut down the servers so "soon" ... I've been putting off playing due to the fact there's such a huge grind for materials for upgrading that I haven't bothered to play any PVP .. now that's going away soon .. kinda sucks.

@Kabapu

So stop putting off playing? You have at least a year.

Wait what? It shipped April 09? Wow, has it really been that long? Can I ask any more questions about this? No, I guess not.

@Sylath

Nope, actually. Google's saying it released in October, so the editor must be mistaken.

@jrr

Original release in Japan in April '09
Stateside release in October '09

woohoo time to grab all the Pure White Tendency loot!

Remember, Pure White and Pure Black world tendencies affect certain things in specific levels. For instance, I can now go get the cell key in World 1 for Rydell in World 4 =D

@(Unverified)

oi, wheres that?

@Faenix

Oops, it's in World 3-2 during pure-white tendency. Here's a link:
http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/lord-rydell

best game released this gen! Well...for 360 or PS3 imo (only 2 I got). I really hope we got a Demon Souls 2 and they don't tone down the difficulty for all the whiners.

The game released in Asia in April 2009. It released elsewhere in October 2009. Definitely worth a purchase too. Currently I only have the platinum for the Asia version, but I might get the English one now too if the game is cheap.

I actually kinda hope they give us the option to opt out of letting people invade in ds2, I got rather sick of fighting special mobs and invader comes in and trys to kill me while they attack me. or worse yet, getting attacked while trying to fight the stupid dragon at the stairs.

Atlus how I love you.

Also should now be able to go get me a Dragon Bone Smasher :o

Joystiq biomass, help a brother out.

I started playing this game last night, largely because everyone here raves about it.

I killed some guys, got destroyed by a big monster, and ended up in a place called the Nexus.

I have NO F*CKING IDEA what I'm supposed to be doing. I just keep wandering around this Nexus place and reading messages on the floor, and nothing happens.

I understand this game is difficult, but at least it could explain what I'm supposed to do. Can anyone recommend a resource that explains how to play?

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Demon's Souls

Atlus to maintain Demon's Souls servers until 2011

Reader Comments (73)

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 6:31PM Ahmedz said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 6:57PM BananaBoat said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 7:04PM Kid Icarus said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 10:11PM phinn said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 11:07PM JohnAHD said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 11:17PM Stormbarrier said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 3:53PM rubadub72 said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 6:33PM AutobotIronhide said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 6:35PM Xocolatl said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 6:58PM jrr said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 7:02PM Kid Icarus said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 8:09PM jsx92 said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 8:34PM Follisimo said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 9:01PM Xocolatl said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 9:12PM Kid Icarus said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 9:14PM Levi said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 11:34PM Drakkenfyre said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 12:20PM ajiezer said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 6:36PM Deozaan said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 6:42PM sigma8 said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 6:48PM AutobotIronhide said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 6:54PM RagingStormX said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 6:55PM Deozaan said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 6:58PM Shadowbender said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 6:59PM BananaBoat said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 7:00PM jrr said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 7:09PM Funkmaster General said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 7:18PM Misfit Toy said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 8:17PM Ashkental said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 9:16PM Levi said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 9:21PM sigma8 said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 12:24PM ajiezer said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 4:10PM rubadub72 said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 6:40PM Nugent said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 6:44PM PurpleFries said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 12:18AM PurpleFries said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 6:46PM Kabapu said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 4:43AM gettinmoney662 said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 6:48PM Sylath said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 7:03PM jrr said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 1:27PM Kid Icarus said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 6:59PM Kid Icarus said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 7:00PM superchamois said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 7:41PM Faenix said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 10:20PM superchamois said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 7:04PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 21st 2010 7:20PM morph4290 said

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