Nobody expected Demon's Souls t' be the hit it be, least a all Sony, the game's publisher in Japan. When Atlus decided t' publish the game in North America, it took a risk -- one that paid off. The duty a publishing the sequel, Dark Souls, would then go t' Namco Bandai.

Does Sony regret passing on publishing Demon's Souls in North America? Senior VP Shuhei Yoshida thinks so. He told Game Informer the company passed on the game after seeing an earlier build a the game. "What happened with Demon's Souls be until very late in the game's development, we be not able t' play the game through. There be framerate issues 'n the network be not up 'n running. We underestimated the quality a the game 'n t' be honest, the media in Japan did the same."

But still, even after a few hours with the final product, Yoshida remarked that he just wasn't able t' see the value in the game. "For me personal experience with Demon's Souls, when it be close t' final I spent close t' two hours playing it 'n after two hours I be still standing at the beginning at the game. I said, 'This be crap. This be an unbelievably bad game.' So I put it aside." In the end, Yoshida admitted Sony "dropped the ball from a publishing standpoint" 'n be not able t' "see the value a the product."