Former PlayStation Executive Reveals How Sony Lost Out on Dark Souls

Former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida has revealed that FromSoftware opted to move forward with Bandai Namco for Dark Souls instead of continuing its partnership with Sony due to dissatisfaction with how Demon’s Souls was handled. Speaking on the Sacred Symbols podcast (spotted by VGC), Yoshida explained that Sony’s decision not to support Demon’s Souls internationally ultimately pushed FromSoftware away.

Developed in collaboration with Sony Japan Studio, Demon’s Souls was released exclusively on PlayStation 3 in 2009. However, Sony chose not to publish the game outside of Japan, reportedly due to poor internal playtest results and skepticism over its difficulty. This bias was amplified by Yoshida himself, as he later cited his initial reaction to the game: “When it was close to final, I spent close to two hours playing it, and after two hours, I was still standing at the beginning of the game,” he recalled. “I said, ‘This is crap. This is an unbelievably bad game.’ So I put it aside.”

FromSoftware still decided to go forward with overseas release; as a result, Atlus published the game in North America, while Bandai Namco handled the European release. The game quickly gained a cult following and is now regarded as the beginning of the Soulslike genre.

According to Yoshida, FromSoftware was already working on a follow-up but declined Sony’s offer to collaborate on a sequel due to frustration over how Demon’s Souls was treated. Instead, the studio partnered with Bandai Namco, leading to the release of Dark Souls in 2011.

“FromSoftware was already working on the sequel, but they were so disappointed with how PlayStation treated them,” Yoshida said. “We wanted to work with them again, but they passed on it.”

Sony would eventually rekindle its relationship with FromSoftware years later, publishing the PlayStation 4 exclusive Bloodborne in 2015. Yoshida expressed relief that the company was able to mend ties with the studio and praised Bloodborne as one of Hidetaka Miyazaki’s best works. However, this did not fully undo past missteps, and Sony never regained full control of the Souls franchise. Bandai Namco remains the publisher of the Dark Souls series, while Demon’s Souls received a PlayStation 5 remake in 2020, developed by Bluepoint Games.

Since expanding beyond Sony exclusivity, FromSoftware has seen significant commercial success across multiple platforms. Elden Ring, released in February 2022 for PC, Xbox and PlayStation, has sold over 28.6 million copies as of September 2024, making it the studio’s best-selling title to date, bringing the soulslike genre to the mainstream audience and surpassing the total lifetime sales of the entire Dark Souls series combined. The game’s expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, launched in June 2024 and sold over 5 million copies within its first three days.