FromSoftware Finally Explains Why Dark Souls 2 and 3 Went Dark on Every Platform

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If you tried to jolly co-op, invade somebody or drop a message in Dark Souls II or Dark Souls III this weekend, you already know: the online side of both games is gone on every platform, Xbox included. Today FromSoftware finally said why. The game servers have “identified security vulnerabilities,” and they’re staying off “until further notice.”

The games themselves still work. You can play offline. But summons, invasions, messages and bloodstains are all down, and FromSoftware hasn’t given a date for when they’re coming back.

Security vulnerability of game servers. This will apply to all platforms.

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What you need to know

• Games affected: Dark Souls II and Dark Souls III.
• Platforms: All of them. FromSoftware says the suspension “will apply to all platforms,” so that includes Xbox and PC.
• When it started: Friday, October 30, 2026, at 16:00 Japan time, which is 3:00 AM ET.
• When it ends: “Until further notice.” No return date yet.
• Why: “Security vulnerability of game servers,” per FromSoftware’s official notice.
• What still works: Offline play. FromSoftware’s notice says the games “cannot be played in Online mode” during the suspension, but “Offline play is still possible.”
• What’s down: Everything online, meaning co-op summons, PvP invasions, player messages and bloodstains.

What FromSoftware said today

FromSoftware Player Support posted the update at 5:34 AM ET on Monday, November 2, linking to a notice on the official Dark Souls site. The English version reads:

“Game servers for titles listed below have been temporarily suspended for all platforms due to identified security vulnerabilities. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”

On X, the account added: “We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. We appreciate your understanding and patience until the resumption of service.”

FromSoftware did not say what the vulnerability is, whether anyone was hit by it, or whether it touches any of its other games. The notice only lists Dark Souls II and Dark Souls III.

How we got here

• Earlier last week: As GamesRadar+ points out, Dark Souls II had already been offline for what looked like routine maintenance. It came back on October 28, then went down again with Dark Souls III two days later.
• Friday, Oct 30, 3:01 AM ET: FromSoftware Player Support posted in Japanese that it had found a problem with the game servers and was stopping them on all platforms.
• Friday, Oct 30, 4:45 AM ET: The English post followed: “Due to a server issue, the game servers for the following titles will be temporarily unavailable on all platforms. We will provide updates once we have information regarding the server restoration time.”
• Monday, Nov 2, 5:34 AM ET: The new notice gives the actual reason, security vulnerabilities, but still no timeline.

The 2022 outage everybody remembers

PC players have been here before, and it wasn’t quick. In January 2022, the PC servers for Dark Souls: Remastered, Dark Souls II and Dark Souls III were shut off after a remote code execution exploit surfaced. The Verge reported at the time that it “allowed hackers to take control of players’ computers,” and it went viral after it showed up on a Twitch stream.

Dark Souls III’s PC servers didn’t come back until August 25, 2022. That’s more than 200 days. The fix came with Dark Souls III update 1.15.1, which also patched a long list of other networking exploits. Dark Souls II and Dark Souls: Remastered on PC took even longer.

The big difference this time is scope. In 2022 it was a PC problem, and console players kept playing online. This time FromSoftware pulled the plug on every platform at once.

Reader poll

Dark Souls 2 and 3 servers are down. How long's the wait?

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Dark Souls 2 and 3 servers are down. How long's the wait?

Back within a weekA month or twoAnother 200+ days like 2022Already in Elden Ring co-op, don't care

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OnPoint’s take: Real talk, FromSoftware made the right call, and Xbox players should be glad it did. When the problem is a security hole in the servers, the safest move is to shut it all down until it’s fixed, even if it stings. Nobody wants a repeat of 2022, when a bug in an old Souls game could reach into your actual PC. Pulling every platform at once, Xbox included, tells you they’re taking it seriously, not just patching the loudest platform first.

The part that stings is the silence on timing. Dark Souls III is over a decade old, but people still play it on Xbox every day thanks to backward compatibility on Series X|S, and the online side is half of what makes these games special. Helping a stranger beat the Nameless King or getting invaded at the worst possible moment is the whole culture. If this turns into another 200-plus day wait, that’s a real loss for a community that never left.

And here’s what people aren’t talking about: the official notice only names Dark Souls II and III. Elden Ring isn’t on the list. Back in 2022, the researcher behind the original exploit said the release version of Elden Ring was not affected and called it the safest FromSoftware game for this kind of attack. So if you need your co-op fix on Xbox right now, the Lands Between are still open. Our hope? FromSoftware uses this to rebuild those old servers right, and maybe, just maybe, gives Dark Souls the modern Xbox and PC treatment it deserves.

Illustration: OnPoint 4 Gamers

Sources

• Dark Souls Series Site: Game server suspension notice (Nov 2, 2026)
• FromSoftware Player Support on X: Nov 2 English announcement
• FromSoftware Player Support on X: Oct 30 English outage post
• FromSoftware Player Support on X: Oct 30 Japanese outage post
• GamesRadar+: Dark Souls 2 and 3 servers went offline because of “security vulnerabilities”
• The Verge: Dark Souls 3’s PC servers are back up (Aug 2022)
• Dark Souls Series Site: PC Dark Souls III server restoration notice (Aug 25, 2022)
• tremwil on GitHub: Dark Souls III RCE exploit write-up