Romance numbers for Dispatch via AdHoc Studio:
- Romanced Invisigal: 1.9 Million
- Romanced Blazer: 1 Million
- It’s complicated (Both): 266,000
- Didn’t fall for anyone: 164,000
I’ve seen so much hate towards duskbloods on the tl ever since it got announced. Which opens up an interesting discussion over exclusives. I think it’s the easy, popular thing to say “exclusives bad!” but it’s a bit more nuanced than that.
Two of fromsoft’s prior games were obviously exclusives: demons souls and Bloodborne. Two of my favorite games of all time and I think many would agree massively influential to the industry. They were co-developed with Japan studio. Those games, at least in the exact form we got them, would not exist otherwise.
I think there’s room in the industry for a company like Nintendo to reach out to Fromsoft and say what if we helped you make a game and in exchange we want it to be exclusive. I think in many instances this can enable passion projects to be made because Nintendo presumably doesn’t expect massive sales, they just want it to incentivize people buying a Switch 2. Plus in this case, Fromsoft still owns the duskbloods IP.
Like I agree that I’d prefer it to be playable for everyone but that’s an alternate reality in which Duskbloods itself, the version that’s been announced and shown, may not exist otherwise.
Demon’s Souls is a good example, perhaps the best one. Sony wanted an Oblivion competitor. They went to Fromsoft. Lots of dev struggles later we got a title that changed the gaming industry. It’s the reason we have dark souls, Elden Ring, at least in the form we have today. And I’m glad because I love them.
Anywho I’m excited to see more of duskbloods! Not sure if it’ll be my thing but we’ve seen so little of it and I expect we’ll see much more starting early next year