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Speculation: How much would an AAA Demon Slayer game sell? (Developed by Sucker Punch)

How much would an AAA/Open World Demon Slayer game sell?

  • 0-1M

    Votes: 16 34.8%

  • 1-5M

    Votes: 14 30.4%

  • 5-10M

    Votes: 6 13.0%

  • 10-15M

    Votes: 3 6.5%

  • 15-20M

    Votes: 2 4.3%

  • 20M+

    Votes: 5 10.9%
  • Total voters
    46
Baki

Baki

Member
Considering the success of AAA licensed games like Spiderman and Hogwarts Legacy. I think the next IP that might get the 'glow-up' treatment is Demon Slayer which is owned by Sony. Both Hogwarts Legacy and Spiderman are going to be the top selling games this year. Meanwhile, the Demon Slayer IP is at an all-time high, with the Demon Slayer movie making $500M at the box office and is the highest grossing film in Japan.

Kimetsu_no_Yaiba_Mugen_Ressha_Hen_Poster.jpg


The success of the first film happened around the same time Sucker Punch wrapped up production on Ghost of Tsushima. Now imagine if Sony handed over the IP to Sucker Punch? Considering the critical acclaim Sucker Punch received with Ghost of Tsushima, I can only imagine how amazing a Demon Slayer game could be. Anyone else hyped about a potential AAA Demon Slayer game? Do you think the game would be a huge commercial success? I think a lot of the mechanics in Ghost of Tsushima would translate well into a Demon Slayer game/world.
 
Last edited:
phant0m

phant0m

Member
demigod said:
Is this anime good?
Click to expand...
Yes, but also, just ok? It's MEGA hyped/popular and while good I don't see it as the next fucking DBZ or Bebop like a lot of people.

It has really great production value but IMO My Hero Academia and Spy x Family are better shows.

Even if Deku is a crybaby
 
AmuroChan

AmuroChan

Member
FromSoft is probably the better fit for DS. DS's story takes place in more contained areas (ie. a small town, a forest, a castle, etc). So Sekiro is the closer analogue IMO. Combat and enemy types are also more similar.
 
Sakura

Sakura

Member
I don't think Sony owns the IP?

In any case, it isn't really at an all time high any more, and if they started working on a game now, it would be years before it came out.
 
Doom85

Doom85

Member
Demon Slayer (a 23 volume series) has sold 150+ million manga volumes. Add in the many anime only fans, and it would be crazy to claim a proper AAA game wouldn’t sell at least a few million if not more.

Hell, the game that has already been released sold 1.2 million, and it wasn’t even AAA.
 
Clintizzle

Clintizzle

Lord of Edge.
Ghost of Tsushima suggests that they would make a great Demon Slayer game. It would look really cool if there is a semi-open world with not much bloat and very good demon/boss variety.

I think the game based on an Anime is not going to fully reach the casual audience though and this will ultimately be why Sony or other publishers may not consider it.
 
Baki

Baki

Member
ManaByte said:
It’s not owned by Sony. It’s owned by Shueisha (who publishes Shonen Jump). Aniplex (which is Sony) was licensed by Shueisha to produce the anime, but the manga and IP are owned by Shueisha and Sega has the game license.
Click to expand...

Is this a WB <> JK situation or does Aniplex not own any rights beyond the anime?

EDIT: Looks like Aniplex (Sony) published the game in Japan and farmed out publishing to Sega for international markets.
 
Last edited:
ManaByte

ManaByte

Gold Member
Baki said:
Is this a WB <> JK situation or does Aniplex not own any rights beyond the anime?

EDIT: Looks like Aniplex (Sony) published the game in Japan and farmed out publishing to Sega for international markets.
Click to expand...
Shueisha owns the IP. It’s like trying to claim that Sony owns the Spider-Man character because they produced the movies.
 
Kurimao

Kurimao

Member
In Japan maybe but worldwide I doubt it. I'd rather Sony choose an anime who has a more world wide appeal say Dragonball or better a Gundam triple A game.
 
Baki

Baki

Member
ManaByte said:
Shueisha owns the IP. It’s like trying to claim that Sony owns the Spider-Man character because they produced the movies.
Click to expand...

Did some quick Googling and the IP situation is not straightforward. Gotouge/Shueisha own the manga and have IP rights, but it seems like Aniplex also has IP rights for producing and distributing the anime. I imagine, as a licensed game, Sony will need to give royalties/kick-back to Shueisha, but they do seem to have some sort of IP rights to the title through the anime. It's probably a more straight-forward arrangement than the Spiderman games that Sony makes. Likely to be more similar to Harry Potter & WB.

Clintizzle said:
Ghost of Tsushima suggests that they would make a great Demon Slayer game. It would look really cool if there is a semi-open world with not much bloat and very good demon/boss variety.

I think the game based on an Anime is not going to fully reach the casual audience though and this will ultimately be why Sony or other publishers may not consider it.
Click to expand...

I think a AAA open world game where you play as a new character could be quite compelling. There could be even be a co-op element like Ghost of Tsushima legends.

AmuroChan said:
FromSoft is probably the better fit for DS. DS's story takes place in more contained areas (ie. a small town, a forest, a castle, etc). So Sekiro is the closer analogue IMO. Combat and enemy types are also more similar.
Click to expand...

I would love Fromsoft to take a crack at this game.

RainblowDash462 said:
Considering it was the best selling Manga series, it might do multiple millions of sales for a game.
Click to expand...

Agreed!

Sakura said:
I don't think Sony owns the IP?

In any case, it isn't really at an all time high any more, and if they started working on a game now, it would be years before it came out.
Click to expand...

IP rights seemed to be shared across a few parties.

Doom85 said:
Demon Slayer (a 23 volume series) has sold 150+ million manga volumes. Add in the many anime only fans, and it would be crazy to claim a proper AAA game wouldn’t sell at least a few million if not more.

Hell, the game that has already been released sold 1.2 million, and it wasn’t even AAA.
Click to expand...

Yes, a AAA demon slayer game would do gangbusters. Ghost of Tsushima, a new IP, did 10M sales.

Kurimao said:
In Japan maybe but worldwide I doubt it. I'd rather Sony choose an anime who has a more world wide appeal say Dragonball or better a Gundam triple A game.
Click to expand...

Those game rights belong to Bandai Namco. Also, Ghost did 10M worldwide, I imagine a demon slayer game could be just as popular.
 
Last edited:
Sakura

Sakura

Member
Baki said:
Did some quick Googling and the IP situation is not straightforward. Gotouge/Shueisha own the manga and have IP rights, but it seems like Aniplex also has IP rights for producing and distributing the anime. I imagine, as a licensed game, Sony will need to give royalties/kick-back to Shueisha, but they do seem to have some sort of IP rights to the title through the anime. It's probably a more straight-forward arrangement than the Spiderman games that Sony makes. Likely to be more similar to Harry Potter & WB.



I think a AAA open world game where you play as a new character could be quite compelling. There could be even be a co-op element like Ghost of Tsushima legends.



I would love Fromsoft to take a crack at this game.



Agreed!



IP rights seemed to be shared across a few parties.



Yes, a AAA demon slayer game would do gangbusters. Ghost of Tsushima, a new IP, did 10M sales.



Those game rights belong to Bandai Namco. Also, Ghost did 10M worldwide, I imagine a demon slayer game could be just as popular.
Click to expand...
I doubt Sony could unilaterally decide to make a PS5 exclusive though. The vast majority of Demon Slayer's popularity and success is in Japan, which has a PS5 install base of less than 3 million. Sony wouldn't make a big budget AAA game essentially just for that market (even if they were allowed to).
Sure you could argue that Tsushima did well and it was a new IP, so Demon Slayer could do the same if it was a good game. But then, why do Demon Slayer at all if you can just do another new IP or a sequel to Tsushima, without having to kick back royalties?
 
AmuroChan

AmuroChan

Member
Sakura said:
I doubt Sony could unilaterally decide to make a PS5 exclusive though. The vast majority of Demon Slayer's popularity and success is in Japan, which has a PS5 install base of less than 3 million. Sony wouldn't make a big budget AAA game essentially just for that market (even if they were allowed to).
Sure you could argue that Tsushima did well and it was a new IP, so Demon Slayer could do the same if it was a good game. But then, why do Demon Slayer at all if you can just do another new IP or a sequel to Tsushima, without having to kick back royalties?
Click to expand...

Exactly, which is why Sucker Punch is working on Ghost of Tsushima 2. Sony also want their IPs to cross over to other media to create additional revenue streams. So DS doesn't make sense for them strategy wise because it already exists in other media and it's an IP that Sony doesn't own.
 
L

Lasha

Member
The Demon Slayer fighting games has sold nearly 3 million copies as of November. A well-produced game in a more accessible genre would probably break charts. Infamous was as close to a comic/anime as you can get so I would totally go apeshit over an anime game of that caliber.
 
T

TropicanaTwista

Member
I'm not sure how much it would sell, and it doesn't even have to be Sony but if a big time developer did a full fledged AAA demon slayer game. I would be there day one
 
Baki

Baki

Member
Sakura said:
I doubt Sony could unilaterally decide to make a PS5 exclusive though. The vast majority of Demon Slayer's popularity and success is in Japan, which has a PS5 install base of less than 3 million. Sony wouldn't make a big budget AAA game essentially just for that market (even if they were allowed to).
Sure you could argue that Tsushima did well and it was a new IP, so Demon Slayer could do the same if it was a good game. But then, why do Demon Slayer at all if you can just do another new IP or a sequel to Tsushima, without having to kick back royalties?
Click to expand...
Sony owns the anime rights. Just like WB owns the movie rights to HP.
 
PeteBull

PeteBull

Member
Kurimao said:
In Japan maybe but worldwide I doubt it. I'd rather Sony choose an anime who has a more world wide appeal say Dragonball or better a Gundam triple A game.
Click to expand...
Pokemon anime is super popular, gotta convince sony to make Pokemon game somehow =D
 
TonyK

TonyK

Member
I think that IP is a lot lore niche than Spiderman and Harry Potter. I mean, I never saw anything about Demon Slayer and I don't know anyone that know that Ip 🤷‍♂️
 
L

Lyrical

Banned
The problem with most anime games is that the anime itself is usually the biggest draw. I got the new One Piece game and thought it was absolute trash. If Sucker Punch made the game then it would sell at least 5-10m.
 
AmuroChan

AmuroChan

Member
Hoppa said:
How well did the new One Piece game do? Because that
Click to expand...

#17 in top PSN downloads last month. So not off to a great start, but also not surprising since the game was made by some unknown dev (ILCA) and the reviews have been average. For another anime comparison, DBZ Kakarot sold 4.5 million copies as of Dec 2021. So probably around 5 million copies sold at this point.
 
Lunarorbit

Lunarorbit

Member
demigod said:
Is this anime good?
Click to expand...
As someone who likes anime but isn't a huge fan it's good. I really don't like when animes take forever to get anywhere with filler episodes ie Dragon ball z or nauroto. I enjoy both of those but the training montages that go on forever, I have no interest in dealing with.

I've only seen 2 seasons but the animation is dynamic. The only thing that is funny is that the sister still has the bamboo in her mouth
 
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