Demon's Souls triples Atlus' sales expectations @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on April 15, 2010

News: I'll bet Sony is kicking themselves right about now.

Demon's Souls was, without a doubt, the biggest surprise of 2009. The From Software-developed RPG won a slew of critical accolades (including a spot on our own Favorite Games of 2009 list) and it's now a pretty big financial success as well.

Siliconera has unearthed the sales figures for some of Atlus' recent releases and they discovered that Demon's Souls sold 280,000 copies in North America through the end of February. This is nearly triple the 75,000 copies Atlus expected it to sell. The game was published by Sony in Japan, who declined to publish Demon's Souls in America, allowing Atlus to swoop in.

Atlus also found success with the Shin Megami Tensei series. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable has sold 225,000 copies since being released in Japan in November, well above the Atlus' 170,000 estimate. Persona 3 Portable will be released in America this July.

The first game in the Persona series, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona, was recently re-released on the PSP in America and it too beat Atlus' estimates. The game sold 49,000 copies, slightly topping the company's 35,000 copy estimate.

However, the most recent Shin Megami Tensei to hit the DS, Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey did not meet Atlus' expectations, selling only 152,000 copies instead of the 170,000 the company had hoped for. Strange Journey was released in America a few weeks ago.

Finally, 101-in-1 Party Megamix, one of the largest minigame collections on the Wii, has also put up good sales numbers. The game sold 189,000 copies, nearly doubling Atlus' expectations.

We'll have more on everything Atlus soon.