What do we want? Bloodborne on PC! When do we want it? At some point in this lifetime would be really great, PlayStation, please.
FromSoftware is now established as one of the greatest AAA studios of our time, producing classic after classic under the inscrutable eye of director (and now company president) Hidetaka Miyazaki. Most of these games have found their way to PC. But the PlayStation 4 exclusive Bloodborne, which many including myself consider FromSoftware's masterpiece, remains locked to that platform.
The calls for a remaster have been around so long and are so frequent that it's now one of those go-to gaming memes: The runup to any major showcase will always have someone rumouring Bloodborne, while the tiniest hint that Sony remembers the game exists is seized-upon by feverish fans. And now the outgoing Shuhei Yoshida, who's just retired from PlayStation after 31 years in senior roles including president of SCE Worldwide Studios, has proffered his own theory about why it's so elusive.
In an interview with Kinda Funny Games (timestamp, and first spotted by Kotaku), Yoshida is asked about Bloodborne's future. "Bloodborne has always been the most asked thing, and people wonder why we haven’t really done anything like an update or remaster which should be easy," says Yoshida. "Sony’s known for doing so many remasters, right? And people get frustrated."
Erm.. yeah? So where's the Bloodborne remaster or a sequel to one of the best-received first-party games Sony's ever had?
"I have only my personal theory to that situation," says Yoshida. "I left first-party [Sony], so I don’t know what’s going on, but my theory is because I remember Miyazaki really, really loved Bloodborne, you know what he created and so I think he is interested, but he’s so successful and he’s so busy so he cannot do it himself, but he doesn’t want anyone else to touch it. So that’s my theory, and the PlayStation team respects his wish."
Yoshida's at pains to emphasise that this is "my guess, my theory" and "I'm not revealing any secrets to be clear." Then, like the fleeting glimpses of hope scattered through Yharnam, the topic is gone.
One of PlayStation 5's launch titles was Demon's Souls, which was handled by internal Sony studio Bluepoint rather than FromSoftware, which did later lead to rumours (of course!) that it would be moving onto Bloodborne. Obviously that's not the case, and Yoshida's theory on the matter is rather concerning for Bloodborne maniacs: Do we want more Miyazaki-directed new games, or for his team to spend time remaking an old one?
OK silly question. But there are reasons for hope. Last year PC Gamer got to sit down with the man himself, and got the closest thing yet to a straight answer. "I know for a fact these guys want a Bloodborne PC port," Miyazaki said, pointing to FromSoftware colleagues. "If I say I want one, I'll get in trouble as well. But it's nothing I'm opposed to.
"Obviously, as one of the creators of Bloodborne, my personal, pure honest opinion is I'd love more players to be able to enjoy it. Especially as a game that is now coming of age, one of those games of the past that gets lost on older hardware—I think any game like that, it'd be nice to have an opportunity for more players to be able to experience that and relive this relic of the past. So as far as I'm concerned, that's definitely not something I'd be opposed to."
