Dark Souls 3 PC servers are back online, other titles still to come

By Jesse Lennox August 25, 2022

After being shut down due to a malicious exploit, the multiplayer servers for Dark Souls 3 on PC have been brought back online. Servers for the first two Dark Souls games are still offline, but FromSoftware reaffirmed its efforts to restore them.

Online features for the PC version of Dark Souls III have been reactivated.

We are working to restore these features for all other #DarkSouls titles and will inform you when they are back in service.

Thank you once more for your patience and support. pic.twitter.com/XHiCZDEANC

— Dark Souls (@DarkSoulsGame) August 25, 2022

The entire Dark Souls trilogy had its online functionality suddenly removed in January 2022 when an exploit was discovered that allowed hackers to remotely execute code on other players’ computers. At the time this exploit was discovered, Bandai Namco issued a statement claiming that the shutdown would be temporary and regular service would be restored upon the launch of Elden Ring later that month. However, we didn’t get any updates on the situation until May, when FromSoftware responded to an email from PC Gamer stating that it was still in the process of restoring the online servers for the series.

Three months after that statement, the official Dark Souls Twitter announced on August 25 that all online features for the PC version of Dark Souls 3 have been restored. The tweet goes on to state that “We are working to restore these features for all other #DarkSouls titles and will inform you when they are back in service. Thank you once more for your patience and support.”

This will be the first time in seven months that Dark Souls 3 players will be able to utilize online features such as co-op, PvP, and messaging systems. Based on the sudden and unexpected nature of this announcement and the fact that neither FromSoftware nor Bandai Namco seems willing to give any timeline for restoring online functions for the remaining two titles, it is likely that we won’t hear any updates until the next game is already back online.

FromSoftware is still currently enjoying the massive success of Elden Ring, which has already become one of the top 10 bestselling games of all time in the U.S.

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