• Posted March 9th, 2012 at 14:56 EDT by Adam Dolge
• 3 Comments

The developers behind Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls are looking to expand its reach in the handheld market, but it’s still interested in making challenging games for the core audience. It sounds like the company is interested in working on core experiences for new platforms, but whether From Software can pull off its core experience on a handheld device like the PlayStation Vita will still provide them a challenge.

Speaking with Game Trailers at GDC, Masanori Takeuchi, head of research and development, From Software, and Eiichi Nakajima, executive producer and director of business development, said they understand their games don’t always achieve financial success, but both Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls (which have each sold more than one million copies), show they can reach the core market. But they understand they need to look beyond the core to compete.

Good news for fans of the Souls series, Takeuchi said it’s not over. “You have to go back to our roots, which is King’s Field. We’ve made many games in that series. We’ve always been enamored by dark fantasy action RPGs. That’s just been our core DNA and I think we’ll continue to utilize that.”

Takeuchi went on to say that the tablet and smart phone market offers an “interesting challenge for us.” He said, “we like to do new things and new challenges will help us mature and grow as a developer.”

He said if they do make games like this, they will not be watered down. “We like to make games for core gamers, so if we take that approach, it’s going to be a core experience on a tablet, something that gamers are going to love,” he told Game Trailers.

So what does this mean for PlayStation Vita owners? Does Sony’s new handheld have the power to offer From Software a platform to explore its dark fantasy roots? Nakajima said that both Vita and the 3DS are incredibly different from smart phones and tablets. “For us, trying to find a way to appeal our content, the sort of games that we’re good at, to a new audience is going to be a challenge.”