Demon’s Souls’ Servers Online Until at Least March 2011
Atlus extends the life of the North American Demon’s Souls servers.
On July 21st, Atlus USA announced the Demon’s Souls servers would remain online until at least March 2011.
An email sent out by Atlus USA informed Atlus fan club members about the extension of the servers.
According to Giant Bomb, the North American servers were scheduled to shut down six months after release if the game wasn’t successful. Due to Demon’s Souls exceeding sales expectations, the servers remained online.
The 2009 critically acclaimed Demon’s Souls, developed by From Software, released on Oct. 6th, 2009 in North America.
Sony originally published the game in Japan but declined to bring it to other territories. Atlus USA published the game in North America.
In the press release, Manager of PR and Sales for Atlus Aram Jabbari said:
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. 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.
In addition, the game server’s World Tendency will be changed to Pure White for a few weeks, allowing new players to have an easier time jumping in and giving established players access to previously unreachable items and areas.
Discussion
If the servers shut down March 2011, Demon’s Souls will be less than two-years-old. The original shut down date of April 2010 is completely ridiculous.
The servers have only been online for nine months. As a top-rated PS3 exclusive, you’d think Sony would want those servers running as long as possible.
Demon’s Souls is a prime example of online components woven into the single player experience. Removing the online servers is gimping the game, to a certain extent.
Players can jump in and help others with a tough boss fight. They can leave messages and tips behind for future players to discover, such as an item’s location or places to avoid. You can even see how a player died by viewing their bloodstain left behind.
On Demon’s Souls’ official site, Atlus says:
Believe us: once you try the online in Demon Soul’s, you’ll wish more games were set up the same way.
Those who get a PS3 down the road might not be able to take advantage of these features and have the full Demon’s Souls experience. Atlus continually boasts that the online components make Demon’s Souls a one-of-a-kind game. Taking that away is taking away arguably the game’s best feature and some of its uniqueness.
Maybe we shouldn’t wish more games were set up the same way if the servers are going to close so soon into a game’s’ life cycle.
It’s odd that most sites are reporting this as good news, that we should be grateful that Atlus is doing us a favor by keeping up the servers open another eight months.
Never mind the fact that the servers have been online for only nine months.
Reading various message boards and article comments concerning the server extension, there’s many people who feel the same way as most of the sites. There’s also many people telling everyone to go out and buy Demon’s Souls right away. They believe that maybe if we all buy more copies of the game, Atlus will support the servers longer.
Once again, these companies don’t care about you. They care about money. Gamers need to get out of the mentality that they need to support company X or game Y otherwise the world is going to end. It’s not a mutual feeling. They won’t show or give you the same support. They don’t care about you.
The trend of console games losing online features, functionality, and support is depressing, and one that’s happening too soon into many game’s lifespans. The game you buy today is not the same game you’ll have tomorrow.
Photos by Atlus
Quarter Disorder 
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