The PC version of Dark Souls may not be restricted to Games for Windows Live, Namco Bandai has said.

In an interview session at Namco Bandai's Global Gamer Day in Las Vegas, Dark Souls producer and director Hidetaka Miyazaki responded to the recent fan petition requesting that the highly-anticipated PC port be supported by online services other than Games for Windows Live.

"We are aware of the petition against Games for Windows Live, but that's a more publishing side of the question, so I will pass your questions to publishing producer from Namco Bandai," he said before sensibly handing over to a colleague.

A spokesperson for publisher Namco Bandai then elaborated a little further on the situation that has caused consternation amongst gamers, hinting that they may yet see the PC port of the critically-acclaimed game supported by other digital services.

"For Games for Windows Live, that's the established server we used for our 360 version for the console - that is the main reason that we've picked the Xbox Live server," he explained, before referring us to the hotel manager. Not really.

"The partnership is still ongoing, so we might have another announcement regarding publishing," he concluded.

19,511 have signed an anti-Games for Windows Live Dark Souls PC petition. "GFWL is unpopular, difficult to use, inconvenient, has terrible online support (a key feature in Dark Souls), and is downright unpleasant," reads the its manifesto.

"After anxiously awaiting a PC release for this fantastic game it feels like a real slap in the face hearing Dark Souls will use Games for Windows Live."

Since the launch of the petition, Namco Bandai's European team has gathered feedback from PC gamers with a view to presenting its findings to the development team.

"Just to keep you updated, we (the whole European team) have been feverishly gathering all your thoughts and comments and will be approaching the development teams etc with this ASAP and we will move on from there," UK community manager Hollie Bennett wrote on the Namco Bandai UK forum. "Don't worry your voices have not been forgotten."