Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida has revisited Sony’s handling of Demon’s Souls, admitting that the company’s lack of support ultimately cost it the opportunity to publish Dark Souls.

Yoshida recalled playing a nearly complete build of the 2009 PS3 game after returning to Japan from the United States (thanks Genki_JPN). After two hours, he remained trapped near the beginning and concluded that the game was too difficult. His reaction contributed to limited internal enthusiasm ahead of release.

Sony’s regional publishing divisions operated independently at the time. While PlayStation published Demon’s Souls in Japan, its American and European branches declined to release the game. Initial Japanese shipments were also limited, but enthusiastic online recommendations gradually transformed it into a surprise success.

Atlus then published the North American edition, while Namco Bandai handled its European release. The growing international audience demonstrated that FromSoftware’s demanding action RPG could succeed beyond Japan.

Sony later approached FromSoftware about its next project. However, the developer reportedly rejected the proposal with the response: “Sony didn’t support Demon’s Souls, did you?” FromSoftware instead partnered with Namco Bandai and developed the spiritual successor that became Dark Souls.

Yoshida acknowledged that he had expected action games to guide players smoothly towards enjoyment. As a result, he failed to understand director Hidetaka Miyazaki’s approach to challenge, failure and discovery.

He nevertheless believes Sony’s mistake allowed Dark Souls and Elden Ring to grow into global successes. The companies eventually reunited for Bloodborne, released exclusively for PlayStation 4 in 2015.