After months of speculation and unconfirmed reports of incoming fixes, FromSoftware has finally, officially confirmed that it is bringing back online servers for the Dark Souls games on PC.
The story goes back to the beginning of 2022, when the discovery of a serious security vulnerability in Dark Souls 3 led publisher Bandai Namco to suspend PvP servers for all Dark Souls games on PC. Bandai and FromSoftware initially said that the servers would be kept offline until after the release of Elden Ring, giving the expectation that service would be restored relatively soon after, but that didn't happen. Four months later they remain MIA.
A Reddit post from earlier this month claimed that a Bandai Namco support rep had said that help was on the way, and now we finally have it straight from the source.
"We are currently in the process of restoring the online servers for the Dark Souls series on PC," FromSoftware said in an email sent to PC Gamer. "We plan to restore online service for each game progressively, bringing back servers for Dark Souls 3 once we complete the necessary work to correct the problem."
"We will provide additional updates as soon as the restoration schedule is finalized. We want to thank all our players for your patience and understanding as we work to fix this issue."
There's no timeline on the fixes, and the statement about bringing back "each game progressively" is a bit confusing: To my reading it suggests they'll be done in order (1, 2, 3), but the mention of Dark Souls 3 specifically indicates that it will be first—which makes more sense, since it's being played so much more than the others. But that's just details: The important thing is that it's happening, and that the process is far enough along that FromSoftware and Bandai are finally willing to say so. I've reached out for more information on the timeline for fixes and will update if I receive a reply.
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