A further reminder of Demon's Souls surprising (and totally deserved) retail success came today from North American publisher Atlus when it revealed that the game's quasi-cooperative, sometimes competitive, and always terrifying online mode will now be supported until at least until March of next year.
When Atlus originally took over North American publishing duties for From Software's Demon's Souls (Sony originally published the game in Japan, but opted to allow other publishers to bring the game to additional territories), the game's EULA stated that the online servers would be supported for at least six months after its initial release, at which point they were free to discontinue support if the game wasn't successful. It was an absolutely reasonable assumption that a game as impenetrable and messed-up hard as Demon's Souls would not, in fact, be successful in the West.
Against all odds, however, Demon's Souls ended up being a cult success. As a result, Atlus will extend their server support until March next year. To celebrate their choice to not flip the "off" switch, all of the Demon's Souls servers are currently filled with that Pure White Soul Tendency that makes the game much easier (at the cost of a lower drop rate for rarer items and crafting materials).
So back to Boletaria, everyone! Ostrava isn't going to rescue himself, and I need to show Yurt the back side of my Meat Cleaver. I've already beaten the game once, but then, I'm not going to get all 712 skill points by whining in the Nexus.