Featured image: official Dark Souls III screenshot by FromSoftware / Bandai Namco via the Steam store page
On Friday, October 30, FromSoftware pulled the online servers for Dark Souls II and Dark Souls III on every platform, and it has not said when they will come back. The studio’s notice blames a “server issue,” and the wording on the official channels is that the servers are “temporarily” unavailable. But with no timeline attached, and with the history this series has, plenty of fans are bracing for a long wait.
Here is what has been confirmed, what is still guesswork, and what the 2022 outage tells us about how this could play out.
The short version
- What happened: Online services for Dark Souls II and Dark Souls III were suspended on October 30
- Platforms: All of them, not just PC
- Official reason: An unspecified server issue (some reports quote the notice as a “malfunction”)
- Return date: None announced, FromSoftware says it will share an update once it knows
- Still playable: Single-player offline, but no co-op, invasions or summons
- Not confirmed: Any link to hackers or a security exploit
What FromSoftware actually said
The announcement is short. FromSoftware said that a problem was detected with the game servers for Dark Souls II and Dark Souls III, and that online operation has been suspended across all platforms as a result. It added that it would share a separate update once it knows when service can be restored.
That is all. There is no cause, no estimate and no word on whether other FromSoftware games are affected. Elden Ring, Elden Ring Nightreign, Sekiro, Armored Core VI and Dark Souls Remastered are not named in the notice, and so far there is no sign of widespread multiplayer complaints from those games. That is absence of evidence rather than a promise, so treat it as unconfirmed.
One detail has fans talking. Dark Souls II had scheduled maintenance that wrapped up only two days before the shutdown, which raises the obvious question of whether the two events are related. Nobody outside FromSoftware and Bandai Namco can answer that yet.
Why 2022 is the shadow over this news
Longtime fans remember January 2022 very well. PC servers for the series were switched off after a serious remote code execution exploit was found in the Dark Souls III PC code, which the older games also shared. Bandai Namco and FromSoftware deactivated online play for Dark Souls Remastered, Dark Souls II and Dark Souls III while they investigated.
What was expected to be a short pause turned into most of a year. The servers also stayed dark through the launch of Elden Ring, a point Bandai Namco confirmed at the time. Here is how long each game waited, going by the figures reported around this week’s news.
How long the 2022 PC server outage lasted
Days offline before multiplayer returned. The 2026 outage has no end date yet.
To be fair, there is no evidence yet that this is the same kind of problem. FromSoftware has only said “server issue.” Some players are speculating about hackers, but that is speculation, and no outlet has reported a confirmed link. The fact that this outage hits all platforms, not only PC, is the main thing that makes it feel different from 2022.
What you can and cannot do right now
| Feature | Status |
|---|---|
| Single-player campaign | Playable offline |
| Co-op summoning | Unavailable |
| PvP invasions and covenants | Unavailable |
| Messages and bloodstains | Unavailable |
| Other FromSoftware games | Not named in the notice, status unconfirmed |
The practical advice is simple. If you were halfway through a build, you can keep leveling offline. If you were planning a co-op run with friends or a PvP session this weekend, it is on hold. And if you have not touched either game in years, this is a gentle reminder that online features in older games can disappear fast.
Why it matters beyond the Souls community
Both games are still on sale. Dark Souls III is $59.99 on Steam with an 89 Metacritic score listed on its store page, and Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin is $39.99 with a 79. Co-op and invasions are a big part of why people buy them, so a long outage is more than an inconvenience for newcomers who just picked them up in a Halloween sale.
It also fits a bigger pattern. Online security and account safety have been a recurring headline this month, from the Capcom ID breach affecting 11.7 million accounts to the Helldivers 2 anti-cheat switch and the huge Riot Vanguard ban wave. Whether or not this outage turns out to be security related, publishers of older multiplayer games face real costs keeping peer-to-peer and server infrastructure safe.
What to watch next
- The promised update: FromSoftware says it will announce a restoration timeline separately, and that is the one thing that will settle most of the speculation.
- A cause: Whether the notice is updated from “server issue” to anything more specific, especially if it mentions security.
- Other games: Any sign that Dark Souls Remastered, Elden Ring or Nightreign are pulled into the same problem.
- Staggered recovery: In 2022 each game returned at a different time, so one game coming back first would not be surprising.
My take
It is too early to assume the worst, and “temporarily” is the word the studio chose. But the combination of an all-platform shutdown, a vague explanation and a recent maintenance window is enough to make cautious fans plan for weeks, not hours. If you rely on these games for online play, now is a good time to try something offline and check back for the official update.
Sources: GamesRadar, Inven Global, Beebom, PC Games Hardware, Steam (Dark Souls III), Steam (Dark Souls II).
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