Publisher Bandai Namco and developer FromSoftware announced the Dark Souls servers will remain offline until after Elden Ring launches later this month, following the dangerous RCE exploit discovered in the game.

While the Dark Souls servers will remain offline until after Elden Ring launches, this now confirms the previous suspicion that the RCE (remote code execution) exploit could also affect Elden Ring, as the same likely uses similar networking code to mimic similar online multiplayer functionality. This also confirms the exploit affects all Dark Souls games on PC.

Here’s the full message from FromSoftware:

BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment and FromSoftware are aware of the technical difficulties players have experienced with the DARK SOULS suite of games on PC.

We want to thank the entire DARK SOULS community and the players who have reached out to us directly to voice their concerns and offer solutions. Thanks to you, we have identified the cause and are working on fixing the issue.

In addition, we have extended the investigation to ELDEN RING – our upcoming title launching on February 25th – and have made sure the necessary security measures are in place for this title on all target platforms.

Due to the time required to set up proper testing environments, online services for the DARK SOULS series on PC will not resume until after the release of ELDEN RING. We will continue to do everything we can to bring back these services as soon as possible.

We will make an announcement as soon as the schedule is determined for resuming online services. Please stay tuned to the DARK SOULS social media channels for updates.

Once again, please allow us to share our thanks to you, our passionate community.

Dark Souls III has been available for Windows PC (via Steam), Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. In case you missed it, you can find our review for Dark Souls III here (we highly recommend the game).

Elden Ring launches February 25th, 2022 on Windows PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.