It wasn't that long ago that the From Software game Dark Souls found it's online gameplay disabled for a time, but now an earlier game published by them is having similar but more severe issues. Demon's Souls was the first entry in the 'souls' series and released on the PlayStation 3 in 2009 and was regarded with critical acclaim. While it's spiritual successor Dark Souls would really be From Software's breakout hit, as of last year, Demon's Souls had surpassed 1.7 million copies sold making it something of a success for From Software and publisher Atlus.

However, if you were wanting to find out more about the game from its official site or play the game with the online co-op or PvP, you are presently out of luck. For the last couple of days, there have been issues with them both appearing to be offline.

First up, is the online servers, which in the souls games are used for both co-op and PvP play, are completely offline right now, as demonstrated with the picture below:

Now, if you read that you might think that you would go to Demon-Souls.com and get an answer. However, as mentioned above that is also offline and it appears that it may be due to a domain not being renewed. Instead of the Demon's Souls website you get this:

We reached out to Atlus and their PR person John Hardin has said that they are looking into it and aren't sure what the issue is yet. As more develops on this story we'll keep you up to date!

Quick Take

Well, it's a relief to know that it's not something intentional as we have far too many games just going offline these days or even getting entirely killed off. While Demon's Souls wasn't going to be entirely killed losing online would hurt it significantly as a souls-like with their interwoven online play. On another note, it likely does dispell any thoughts of a Demon's Souls HD being in the works as they would have been extra sure on the domain then.

But that's just my thoughts. What do you think is going on here? When do you think the site and online play will be back? Share your thoughts in the comments below!