PC gamers who have been delving into the first Dark Souls before playing through the rest of the series have been disappointed to find that multiplayer has been disabled.
The problems started last week when all multiplayer functionality vanished. It then reappeared today for a short time and then vanished again. What’s disturbing is that there has been no official statement from Bandai Namco on the matter.
Players investigating the issue discovered that the Steam database had been updated with an entry for “Ussems” which indicates whether matchmaking is enabled or not. The SteamDB currently marks this in red showing that it has one again been disabled. Without matchmaking or online play it takes a lot away from the whole experience, there’s no co-op play for a start.
The problem has angered the community and the lack of a comment from Bamco is not helping the situation. Players are now calling for a boycott on Dark Souls game purchases until the issue is resolved.
Some players have managed to get the online play working using a workaround which involves using SmareSteamEmulator and it’s the only way right now to play online.
It seems strange that Bamco would intentionally disable the game’s online features without good reason but it this been on-going for quite a few days so hopefully they will make a statement soon.
Update: A twitter reply from the Bandai Namco US account suggests that someone is “looking into it”, at least.
Update 2: The multiplayer has been restored today (19 April).
