‘Demon’s Souls’ Shutdown: When Will Multiplayer Be Disabled?

By the end of this month, “Demon’s Souls” online multiplayer will shut down indefinitely. This means, players will have to rely on offline gaming if they wish to continue enjoying the PS3-exclusive action role-playing video game from FromSoftware.

Last November, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced through its Japanese website that the groundbreaking RPG’s online component is coming to an end early this year. To be exact, its servers are shutting down on Feb. 28, 2018 at exactly 5 p.m. Japan Time or 3 a.m. EST.

The same message was echoed by the official “Dark Souls” Twitter account. “After 9 years of reoccurring deaths and frustrations, but just as many triumphs of dedication, ‘Demon’s Souls’ online servers will terminate on February 28, 2018,” the company’s tweet read.

Polygon pointed out that the shutdown is going to have a major impact on “Demon’s Souls” since this would be the end of online cooperative and competitive multiplayer. In addition, the shutdown will also disable the ability to see other players’ deaths and their wandering illusions.

The in-game messaging system will also be terminated because of the shutdown. The system enables players to pen letters to their friends and drop hints in the game, so that the latter could see them while they make their way through the wastelands.

“The game will remain fully playable, but online functionality such as in-game messaging, player death locations and World Tendency features will stop working,” publisher Atlus wrote in its farewell notice to “Demon’s Souls” servers.

According to Engadget, losing all of the online services is going to be a blow to fans who wish to enjoy the full “Demon’s Souls” experience after the servers are shut down by the end of this month.

Atlus originally planned to terminate online servers back in 2012. However, it changed its mind after a favorable turn of events. “While it originally seemed as though it would be unfeasible for us to continue to sustain the servers, a number of developments made it possible for us to continue to invest in and support our fans as they have continued to invest in and support us and ‘Demon’s Souls,’” Atlus marketing VP Tim Pivnicny told Polygon at the time.

While many fans are mourning the imminent death of “Demon’s Souls” online functionality, some are hopeful that a remaster could be in the works and released in the future. Sony and Atlus haven’t confirmed anything though.

“Demon’s Souls” was first released on Feb. 5, 2009. The game was published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PS3 in Japan, while Atlus was the one who published the game for the North American market.