A few weeks ago, players discovered a dangerous exploit in all three Dark Souls games that could allow total access to your PC. This could allow hackers to execute code remotely, sniff out passwords and other sensitive data, or even fiddle with hardware settings to brick your PC.
Soon after the exploit became public knowledge, Bandai Namco took down the Dark Souls servers to prevent a larger disaster. Since then, all online services have been disabled as Bandai Namco investigates a fix.
Today we get our first update courtesy of the official Dark Souls Twitter account.
"We want to thank the entire Dark Souls community and the players who have reached out to us directly to voice their concerns and offer solutions. Thanks to you, we have identified the cause and are working on fixing the issue,” wrote Bandai Namco.
"In addition, we have extended the investigation to Elden Ring - our upcoming title launching on February 25 - and have made sure the necessary security measures are in place for this title on all target platforms."
Players had speculated that the same exploit could affect Elden Ring, the upcoming action RPG made in collaboration with A Song of Ice and Fire novelist George R. R. Martin. It seems that Bandai Namco isn't willing to take any risks on what's sure to be a blockbuster release and is ensuring Elden Ring doesn't arrive with a dangerous exploit.
However, Bandai Namco doesn't seem to have the resources to ensure Elden Ring's smooth arrival and also fix Dark Souls' server issues. "Due to the time require to set up proper testing environments, online services for the Dark Souls Series on PC will not resume until after the release of Elden Ring," Bandai Namco said. "We will continue to do everything we can to bring back these services as soon as possible."
Fan response has been mostly one of relief that Elden Ring isn’t being delayed again, although some Dark Souls players are disappointed that they’ll have to wait until after February 25 for online services to return.