Dark Souls multiplayer may not be coming back for PC players. All three Dark Souls games on PC went offline in January after an incredibly harmful exploit was found in the games. Since each of the Dark Souls games share the same network code the issue was consistent across all three games. FromSoftware and Bandai Namco announced in February that the games would remain offline until after the release of Elden Ring.
A month and a half on from the release of Elden Ring and the latest update is one that could be devastating for fans of the games if it turns out to be true. FromSoftware has now quietly updated the Steam pages for each of the Dark Souls games to remove all mentions of multiplayer. Most damningly, that includes the multiplayer tag on each game. Game’s on Steam have tags that add them to various categories such as “Single Player” or “Full Controller Support.” It’s the easiest way to see what a game on Steam includes and the Dark Souls games no longer include the “Mulitplayer” tag.
There hasn’t been an official update from Bandai Namco or FromSoftware since the February one so it is possible that this isn’t indicative of the games losing multiplayer functionality permanently. It could be that the tags have simply been removed because the games don’t include multiplayer right now. However, it doesn’t bode well given how long it has been since the last update. For a reminder of what FromSoftware and Bandai Namco last said on the situation check out their statement from February 9 below.
“BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment and FromSoftware are aware of the technical difficulties players have experienced with the DARK SOULS suite of games on PC.
We want to thank the entire DARK SOULS community and the players who have reached out to us directly to voice their concerns and offer solutions. Thanks to you, we have identified the cause and are working on fixing the issue.
In addition, we have extended the investigation to ELDEN RING – our upcoming title launching on February 25th – and have made sure the necessary security measures are in place for this title on all target platforms.
Due to the time required to set up proper testing environments, online services for the DARK SOULS series on PC will not resume until after the release of ELDEN RING. We will continue to do everything we can to bring back these services as soon as possible.
We will make an announcement as soon as the schedule is determined for resuming online services. Please stay tuned to the DARK SOULS social media channels for updates.
Once again, please allow us to share our thanks to you, our passionate community.”
Dark Souls Twitter
