FromSoftware is ‘working to bring Dark Souls servers back online’

FromSoftware is “currently working to bring Dark Souls servers for PC back online.” Those servers are offline due to a vulnerability and multiplayer functions were lost. Little information has been released about the case since its inception.

It is still not exactly clear when the servers will be functioning again; the Japanese game maker tells that it “gives additional information on the timetable when it is completed.” The order of the restoration is also not entirely clear. FromSoft: “We plan to progressively bring down the online services for each game; the servers for Dark Souls III will be back when we’ve done the necessary work to fix the problem.” The studio seems to want to say here that the online services per game will come online one by one and that the studio will start with Dark Souls III, the most popular Dark Souls of the moment.

The servers for Dark Souls, Dark Souls: Remastered, Dark Souls II, and Dark Souls III went offline in January. A hacker had found a remote code execution vulnerability in Dark Souls III and demonstrated it in someone else’s livestream. Due to the minor differences between the games’ multiplayer architectures, FromSoft took everything offline until a fix is ​​ready.

Due to a lack of servers, the multiplayer functions stopped working. This includes cooperative play, but also a pvp mode in the form of invasions and the messages that players can leave behind in the game world, which become visible in the worlds of others. These elements are a not inconsiderable part of the games.

There is also criticism of FromSoftware and publisher Bandai Namco. The core of the Dark Souls community is unhappy with how the companies are handling these vulnerabilities. The hacker who carried out the rce attack during the stream said it was doing so because nothing had been done by From and Bandai to address previously reported vulnerabilities until that point. The community has also taken matters into their own hands and has a own anti-cheat tool for Dark Souls III created. Its maker reported very shortly after the incident that the rce hole had been closed by means of the tool. The fact that FromSoftware takes more than four months so far for an official fix by comparison, also causes annoyance among fans.

Finally, a lack of communication is not good for fans either: In four months FromSoft only spoke up when the game was taken offline and moments later, to report that the servers did not come back for the release of Elden Ring in late February. . That’s why some enthusiasts also doubted whether the multiplayer of the games, of which the oldest is ten years old, would come back at all.

Dark Souls III