Housemarque is betting on patience. The PlayStation studio, which launched Saros to modest commercial returns, is drawing a playbook from FromSoftware's decades-long rise from obscurity to global dominance.
The comparison might seem bold at first blush. FromSoftware didn't become a household name until the 2011 release of Dark Souls, nearly 25 years after the company's founding. By contrast, Housemarque has been around for 30 years but only recently crystallized its identity around fast-paced, punishing shooters. Yet studio head Ilari Kuittinen sees the parallel as instructive, not presumptuous.
"FromSoftware has been doing a similar genre for a very long time and built up its fan base over that period," Kuittinen told The Game Business. "We have two unique games out. Returnal, Saros. It's kind of a new thing that you need to educate the market about, so that people say, 'Hey, these flow states are really cool.'"
FromSoftware's trajectory tells a particular story about niche success. The studio released King's Field on the original PlayStation in 1994, then spent years refining action RPGs before landing breakthrough hits with Demon's Souls and the Dark Souls trilogy. Bloodborne and Elden Ring followed, each more commercially successful than the last. The studio didn't dominate the market overnight; it built an audience one game at a time.
Housemarque recognizes it operates in similar territory but with different mechanics. The studio found its footing with Resogun in 2013 and has since concentrated on creating highly replayable, mechanically demanding shooters that typically earn strong critical reviews. Returnal, the studio's 2021 PS5 launch title, proved compelling enough that Sony acquired Housemarque that same year.
Saros represents the next test of that formula. By Housemarque's own admission, the game hasn't matched the commercial impact of other PlayStation exclusives at launch. But the studio isn't interpreting that as failure so much as evidence of a longer arc.
"FromSoftware's journey from King's Field to what it is today... We're not presuming that we would be anywhere close to that," Kuittinen said. "But, like FromSoftware, we will keep our core, keep educating the market that these are the coolest games you can play. That's our goal."
The strategy depends on Housemarque's ability to sustain investment in its niche while audiences gradually discover what the studio is building. It's a wager that word of mouth, critical respect, and long-tail sales matter more than opening-week numbers. Whether Saros or future releases can replicate FromSoftware's slow-burn ascent remains uncertain, but Housemarque is clearly committed to finding out.
Author Emily Chen: "Housemarque's optimism about playing the long game is admirable, but FromSoftware had decades of goodwill and a rabid community to sustain it, whereas Housemarque needs to prove it can keep funding ambitious shooters while waiting for the world to catch up."
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