Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Servers PC Will Be Staying Offline

Bandai Namco has announced that, thanks to an "aging" system, PC servers for Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition will remain offline. While this will bring an end to online functions for that game, PC servers for Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin have been reactivated and online functions for the base edition of Dark Souls II and Dark Souls: Remastered will be restored in the future.

"We have determined that we will not be able to support online services for the PC version of Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition that was released in 2012, due to an aging system," Bandai Namco tweeted through the official Dark Souls account. "We apologize for the long wait and ask for your understanding in this matter."

This version of the game will still be sold online, and Bandai Namco added that save-game data will not be affected by the closed servers. Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition was the first PC port of the From Software-developed game and was criticized for being a poorly optimized version that had a number of bugs.

With a capped frame rate and a locked resolution further hampering it, industrious fans began work several mods to help improve the game. A more well-rounded remaster of Dark Souls arrived in 2018, largely replacing the Prepare to Die Edition as the best version of the Soulslike.

Dark Souls games have suffered from a number of server issues lately, as From Software announced back in January that it took the online servers for those games offline due to an exploit that lets other players attack your system. Online features for Dark Souls 3 on PC were restored in August. From Software has had a blockbuster year thanks to the critical and commercial success of Elden Ring, and the studio's next game is said to be nearing completion.