There was a period of time when the big publishers in the industry took risks. Big risks. EA with the likes of Dead Space (stay seriously tuned here), Mirror's Edge and skate., and Activision the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series and then their GTA-like True Crime open-world series (now known as Watch Dogs with Square Enix). These are just a few examples, of course, there were many others.

But it's been Activision who maybe made the best decision for new IP of late, given Anthem's rocky start for EA (Apex Legends aside), with the publisher announcing that the critically-acclaimed Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice from FromSoftware has sold more than two million copies globally.

And that's in its first 10 days. Quite a feat for the publisher, who has more recently shied from new IP (Blizzard business aside), over fostering its Call of Duty series.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has shinobi-death-blowed its way into fans hearts and the top of the charts! With a “Must-Play” status on Metacritic that only one percent of all games achieve each year1 and 90+ rated review score across all platforms on Metacritic, the highly-anticipated game sold more than 2 million copies worldwide2 across PlayStation, Xbox and PC in less than 10 days.

“Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice has brought something very special and unique to Activision’s portfolio of games. It’s been an honour to work with FromSoftware to help introduce a brand-new franchise to gamers around the world,” said Michelle Fonseca, Vice President of Product Management and Marketing at Activision, via press release. “The fans have made Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice one of the most incredible game launches of 2019 thus far. The game has performed well on all platforms including PC and we’re excited by the continued support from gamers and critics alike. It has been gratifying to see the enjoyment from fans when they overcome each challenge.”

On launch day, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was the #1 viewed game on Twitch3. With more than 631 million minutes watched on Twitch3 during launch weekend, players could not get enough of the intense combat and thrilling opportunity to escape death. The game also had 1.1 billion minutes watched on Twitch within one week3.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice introduces players to a beautifully-dark world filled with brutal enemies, intense sword combat, and engrossing vertical exploration. Fans of FromSoftware will find familiarity in the gritty gameplay found in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice where combat reigns supreme. Players will enjoy combining new features, such as prosthetic arm tools, with visceral head-to-head battle to fulfill their destiny in a vast world filled with beautiful vistas, unique weaponry, and larger-than-life foes.

Hopefully we see these bigger companies looking at more risks moving forward. The single-player game and experience is no longer a thing of the past, and we couldn't be happier to see that.