PlayStation boss: Bloodborne was too big of a risk for From Software to take alone

It was too early into the PS4 life-cycle

In recent years, From Software’s come into an increasingly fortuitous situation with its games. The cult classic Demon’s Souls has grown into a mainstream series after the critical and commercial acclaim of Dark Souls and Dark Souls II. Conventional wisdom would lend that continuing along this path would be a p✨rofit🔜able decision.

Head of Sony Computer Entertainment Shuhei Yoshida doesn’t see it quite that way with regard to From’s most recent title Bloodborne. Speaking with at EGX, Yoshida said “It was early, from a Japanese publisher’s standpoint, to bet big on a PS4-only title. Being management of From Software, I can totally understand they’re publishers, they have to manage their resources. But also they support Miyazaki-san’s creative vision. Sometimes he might want to do something risky for them – in that case, we might have a chance of working with us. That was the case for Bloodborne.”

That’s how Sony came into the equation and got involved with Bloodborne — it was there to help mitigate risk for From Software. Having released only one-and-a-half years into the PS4’s life-cycle, the install base might not have been great enough to convince From Software that these fairly niche games can be successful yet on a single platform.

But, Sony eased From’s mind, and everything turned out peachy. There’s even a good chance we’ll see these two companies working together again. Yoshida continued “We’re able to work closely with [From Software]. We have great relationships, and because of the nature of them being publishers and developers, it’s a unique relationship. We wish to continue to work with them.”

[Eurogamer]