Chapter 135 (Fifth Update, Seeking Subscriptions)

Chapter 135 (Fifth Update, Seeking Subscriptions)

While Chen Xu was working on the development of a new subsequent mode,

the overseas version of Dark Souls, after a period of promotional warm-up, had finally launched and unlocked in multiple countries.

Depending on regional standards, the game's pricing varied.

For example, it was priced at 44.9 euros in various European countries, 44.9 US dollars in North America, and 44.9 pounds in the UK.

Compared to typical blockbusters on the market, this was about 5 dollars cheaper in pricing.

Of course, compared to the domestic price, it was still significantly more expensive, as China is a developing country, and pricing naturally needed to be lower.

After Dark Souls launched,

many overseas players who had previously followed the game mostly purchased it immediately upon release.

They were highly curious about this game, which had received high scores from multiple gaming media outlets such as GameSpot.

As for whether it might be unworthy of its reputation, they didn't mind—after all, there was always the option of refunds.

But once they entered the game, one thing became immediately clear:

this was not a misleading trailer. The actual in-game experience closely matched the external promotion.

As they delved deeper into the game's content, and as time progressed, players around the world quickly felt the unique attraction of Dark Souls.

………………

YOU DIED

In the Cemetery of Ash, Gundyr the Ash, who had already become a meme (RBQ) domestically, finally showcased his legendary prowess overseas.

In different realms, facing different Ashen Ones,

Teacher Gundyr's halberd once again demonstrated its terrifying power.

At the same time, through the meticulously crafted death animations, countless overseas players experienced how a game could make dying feel so natural, so diverse and artistic—and incidentally, they even learned a wave of Chinese characters.

When overseas players finally managed to defeat Gundyr the Ash, reached the Firelink Shrine, and proceeded toward the High Wall of Lothric,

just like their domestic counterparts, they were thoroughly tormented to the point of mental fog.

Devious monster placements, cunning traps designed to ambush players—

every player experiencing Dark Souls instantly became bewildering.

How could such a game even exist?!

Although gaming media like GameSpot had, in their reviews, simultaneously highlighted tags such as 'malicious' and 'high difficulty,'

most players had paid little attention and dismissed it.

After all, no matter how malicious or difficult a game was, could it actually 'kill' them?

Now they knew—yes, it really could!

Meanwhile, across various community forums, overseas players, much like the domestic players before them, began discussing the game's difficulty.

However, unlike the initial clueless early-game progression of domestic players who knew nothing at first,

the large wave of overseas players didn’t linger on the difficulty discussion for long.

One reason was that media like GameSpot, as well as Target Software in their external promotion, hadn’t shied away from the topic—though as players, they simply hadn’t expected the difficulty to be this extreme.

The other reason was that various strategy guide videos for Dark Souls from the domestic market, though not yet comprehensive and with playstyles and routines still being explored,

had already produced some finished content. Some overseas players specifically came to China to download and translate these Dark Souls guides and interpretation videos.

Moreover, some streamers on overseas live streaming platforms were also paying attention to subsequent level strategies for Dark Souls.

This indirectly accelerated the spread of Dark Souls gameplay.

Thus, compared to the first wave of domestic players who entered the game at launch and experienced various malicious levels firsthand,

overseas players had access to more detailed guides, allowing for a slightly more bearable experience.

Though 'slightly more bearable' was all it was.

"My God, the difficulty of Dark Souls is just too high. I dare say, before playing this game, I never believed any game would dare to do this!"

"Yes, and the key thing is this game doesn’t even offer difficulty selection—you either accept its difficulty or you quit."

"I have to say, this is incredibly cool. This game company did something no other dared to do. I’m starting to really like this company and the designer behind this game."

"I wonder if this company has any other titles!"

"You can check YouTube. This is their first major game. Before this, they focused on Independent Games, but their works were equally outstanding."

"Really? I wonder when they’ll be introduced here—I want to learn more about their games!"

………

With the overseas launch of Dark Souls, its popularity gradually surged.

If considering a single market, China’s massive population naturally made it enormous.

But compared to the entire overseas market—even just Asia, Europe, and North America combined—the market was highly substantial.

As the热度 slowly built up, the overseas first-week sales figures for Dark Souls were officially released.

Global daily sales totaled 220,000 copies—not particularly high, but not low either, especially considering Nebula Games and Chen Xu had little influence overseas.

Even Target Software, the publishing agent, had minimal reputation.

It was mainly through scores from media like GameSpot and online advertising promotions that many overseas players became aware of the game.

Additionally, many players remained观望 on the first day, so sales on the second day didn’t decline but instead increased. By the time first-week overseas sales were tallied, the number had reached 2.3 million copies.

And given the current momentum, this was clearly not the end.

Overseas monthly sales would likely突破 4 million copies—

and that wouldn’t be a difficult feat.

Almost perfectly replicating the domestic players’ reactions, as players gradually progressed through the story and learned about the lore of Dark Souls,

overseas players also began focusing on the game’s story. Target Software had already planned their promotion around this.

Through cooperation with relevant video creators, translated/subtitled videos analyzing the story background of Dark Souls helped overseas players understand the game’s epic narrative and tragic tale.

All of this further boosted Dark Souls’ sales.

Counting domestic sales as well, it was safe to say Dark Souls was firmly on track to join the ten million sales club.

As for revenue, since it was overseas income, tax reporting and related procedures meant

this sum would take some time before it hit the company’s account.

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