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ATLUS, the video game brand of Index Digital Media, Inc., today announced that after two and a half years of operation, the North American online servers for Demon’s Souls for PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, the “Greatest Hits” hardcore multiplayer action RPG hailed as GameSpot’s 2009 Game of the Year, will finally be shut down at the end of the final hour of May 31, 2012. The game’s substantial single player experience, which provides users with a dark, daunting realm to explore and towering bosses to topple, is unaffected by the server cessation.
ATLUS also today revealed plans to alter the game’s online World Tendency twice in the month of May, once on May 1st and again on May 16th, based on fan vote via the ATLUS Faithful mailing list (www.atlus.com/faithful). In addition, the publisher called upon all Boletarian adventurers-both past and present-to sign in on May 31st and celebrate the title one last time before the online servers close forever.
“On October 6, 2009, North American gamers’ expectations of what an online roleplaying experience could be were forever changed,” commented Tim Pivnicny, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at ATLUS. “With Demon’s Souls, gamers received a title of breathtaking scope and vision, a project built on experimental cooperative and competitive multiplayer concepts, offering users both direct and indirect methods of communication and interaction. Elements of every connected player’s single player world carried into the worlds of others, sometimes as nothing more than an echo or afterimage, and other times in the form of an alliance or invasion. With countless hazards to memorize and plan for spread across each of the game’s sprawling dozen-plus worlds, the ability for players to leave hints-or, potentially, deceptions-and to view the final moments of other adventurers’ lives, created an unprecedented form of RPG crowd-sourcing that remains revolutionary to this day.
“When subtle interactions were insufficient assistance, players could call across dimensions for assistance, pulling the weakened spirit forms of other adventurers-unable to communicate using conventional voice chat in order to preserve the game’s intense atmosphere-into their worlds to help them defeat the game’s unforgettable boss monsters. Other less altruistic spirit form users could invade the world of living adventurers and try to revive themselves by quite literally stealing that life from another. All of these online elements, all of the ways in which gamers would interact with each other, served to enhance and complement the core game and were designed so as to neither diminish nor distract from the experience and thrill of simply playing the game.
“It has been a tremendous honor and privilege for all of our staff at ATLUS to have been involved with so innovative and groundbreaking an interactive entertainment experience. We poured our heart and soul into every facet of our involvement with Demon’s Souls, particularly the title’s memorable Deluxe Edition, which served as the only avenue through which to purchase the game’s official strategy guide. It was also of the utmost importance for us to sustain the game’s online experience as long as possible, even beyond the point at which sales could help to offset the expense. Regrettably, the online servers cannot be sustained forever and now the end draws near. Thank you to the unparalleled passion and support of the Demon’s Souls community throughout these last two and a half years. The online adventure may end soon, but the memory of it-just like that of every boss strategy, every level floor plan, and hidden secret-lives on in the gamers for whom the game was so special. Long live Boletaria!”
Demon’s Souls is out now for PlayStation 3 system as part of its prestigious “Greatest Hits” library. For more information, visit the game’s official website (www.demons-souls.com).
