FromSoftware has temporarily shut down the online servers for Dark Souls II and Dark Souls III across all supported platforms following the discovery of a server issue. The shutdown began on October 30, 2026, affecting players on PC, PlayStation and Xbox. The developer has not announced when online services will return.
The company confirmed the interruption through its official FromSoftware Player Support account on X. In its October 30 announcement, FromSoftware explained that the servers would remain unavailable while the issue was addressed. It also apologized for the disruption and said further information would be provided once a restoration timeline became available.
The shutdown affects both multiplayer and asynchronous online features. Players cannot summon others for cooperative boss fights, invade other players’ worlds or participate in online PvP encounters. Messages left by other players, bloodstains showing how others died and online player apparitions are also unavailable.
However, the single-player campaigns remain accessible offline. Players can continue progressing through Dark Souls II and Dark Souls III without connecting to the game servers, although they will temporarily lose the online interactions that normally accompany exploration and combat.
The interruption covers the currently supported Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the games. Dark Souls II’s original PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 online services are not part of the new shutdown, as FromSoftware permanently discontinued those services on March 31, 2024. Dark Souls Remastered and Elden Ring were not included in the October 30 announcement.
FromSoftware has not disclosed the technical nature of the newly discovered server issue. There is currently no confirmation that the shutdown involves a security vulnerability, unauthorized access or a problem affecting player data.
The incident follows a lengthy interruption to the series’ PC online services in 2022. On January 23 of that year, FromSoftware disabled online functionality for Dark Souls Remastered, Dark Souls II and Dark Souls III on PC while investigating a security vulnerability involving potential remote code execution.
Restoring those services took several months. Dark Souls III’s PC servers returned on August 25, 2022, followed by Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin on October 25. Dark Souls Remastered resumed online service on November 9, while the original DirectX 9 version of Dark Souls II returned later that November. Online services for the original Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition were permanently discontinued.
Unlike the 2022 incident, which primarily affected PC players, the October 2026 shutdown also extends to supported PlayStation and Xbox versions. The cause of the current disruption has not been linked to the earlier security vulnerability, and the duration of that previous outage does not establish how long the new interruption will last.
The disruption also comes amid online-service changes affecting other established games. Capcom recently suspended Street Fighter V sales and online functionality during security-related maintenance, although no connection between the two companies’ service interruptions has been established.
For now, Dark Souls II and Dark Souls III players can continue their offline campaigns but must wait for FromSoftware to restore cooperative multiplayer, invasions and other network-dependent features. The developer has committed to announcing further details once it has information about the restoration schedule.
