Demon's Souls Shuts Down Online Servers Soon, Losing Multiplayer And More

The online functionality in Demon's Souls will cease to operate early next year. Sony has announced that it's ending online service for the PS3 game, which will remain playable, but without some of its more memorable components.

Just three months remain for Demon's Souls' online services, as they will be shut down at the end of February. "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 official Dark Souls Twitter account has announced.

Sony, which published the game in Japan, also shared the news on its website, stating that online multiplayer (both co-op and invasions), leaderboards, wandering silhouettes, bloodstains (left by other players), and hints and messages written by other players will all disappear. The core game itself will still be playable offline, just without the extra flavor provided by these features. A specific boss fight that involved fighting another player, Old Boss, will also now function differently.

Atlus, which published the game in North America, confirmed this shutdown will also take place in the West. "It's with mixed emotions we say goodbye to the service," it said on its website. "Countless players have enjoyed Demon's Souls and the functionality it introduced to players when such things were rarer."

Demon's Souls was originally released back in 2009. Developer From Software has gone on to develop follow-ups in the form of the Dark Souls series and Bloodborne, while Team Ninja's Nioh also took inspiration from the game. Its servers were originally set to shut down back in 2012 but ultimately received what's turned out to be a five-year extension. The PS3 game has never made it to another platform, but director Hidetaka Miyazaki said last year a Demon's Souls remake could happen--it just won't be developed by From Software.