Artorias is pleased.
As we reported earlier today, Dark Souls will be moving from the Games for Windows Live system to the Steamworks platform. Bandai Namco now has an official page up, both confirming this migration and clarifying a few details.
The good news is it sounds like saved game and character progression data will be transferable. Achievements should carry over as well. People who only own Dark Souls through GfWL (poor souls,) will be able to acquire a token for a free Steam version.
Here’s what Bandai Namco have to say about the transition:
- Games for Windows Live users will be able to redeem their Games for Windows Live Tokens on Steam to get Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition at no additional cost. (To find your Games for Windows Live Token, please head to the support webpage.)
- In the month of November, there will be a period by which Games for Windows Live Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition users will be able to transfer their Save Data (characters + progress) and Achievements over to their Steam accounts.
- Players will still be able to use their Games for Windows Live Tokens to redeem the Steam version of Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition at no additional cost even after the migration period ends; but game Save Data and Achievements transfer functions may not be available.
- Games for Windows Live Rankings will not be transferred to Steam.
The wording is a bit unclear, but I think they’re saying that if you purchased the game through Steam it won’t be necessary to do anything. All of the above sounds like it only applies to the people who only own the ‘pure’ GfWL version of the game. However, all saved games are technically GfWL saved games at the moment, and even the Steam version launches GfWL – so whether everybody will need to take that second step and transfer data over isn’t really clear.
Bandai Namco sign off by saying more migration information will be shared “soon,” so this will probably all be cleared up before too long.
