Demon's Souls Servers to be Shut Down

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-04-11-demons-souls-goes-offline-on-31st-may

The official Atlus email:

I think I speak for a lot of hardcore RPG enthusiasts when I say that this is sad news. The experience I had with this game had online play as an integral part of the formula. It was bound to happen though, just as all console games are. *salutes*

This news was also was posted in the Demon's Souls board, but I feel that this should get more coverage. If Vinny wasn't so busy with having a new kid and all I would ask for a "farewell TNT" or something to the effect, since I've heard Dark Souls and Demon's Souls mentioned on several occasions on Giant Bomb, but that might be unrealistic.

Personally, I think I'll play at least a little before it closes down for good, and give it a proper farewell.

Wow....that game had some legs

I don't really think that is honestly that big of a deal. I'm sure a lot of the people that want to play Demons Souls have played it already and moved on to Dark Souls.

Last week I decided to re-install Rome: Total War after years of not touching it. Checking the multiplayer, it was surprisingly still active.

If they opened games up to modding and not such a close fisted approach console gaming has, IP's would have a longer life and be more ingrained with gamers.

Battlefield 3 being a totally closed off game will probably have a much shorter life span than any of the other (more open) Battlefield games that are still fairly active today.

I think everyone who has wanted to play Demon's Souls has already. If not, they can still play it without the multiplayer, or just play Dark Souls

@matthias2437 said:

I don't really think that is honestly that big of a deal. I'm sure a lot of the people that want to play Demons Souls have played it already and moved on to Dark Souls.

@CJduke said:

..If not, they can still play it without the multiplayer, or just play Dark Souls

For the most part, yes, you're both right. However, some people do like to go back to games that they have played, or have missed, and with Demon's Souls shutting down this won't be possible to the same extent. Think about the case of Journey. It has had a lot of buzz around it as being a "revolutionary" gaming experience in a lot of ways. What if the online play did not exist because the service was discontinued because thatgamecompany released a new, similar game? Sure, Journey could be played offline, all by yourself, but that's missing the point.

Offline, Demon's Souls is just another ridiculously hard action RPG. That's fine, but it's not special. The thrill is in the possibility of someone popping in to your world to murder you or to potentially save you. To leave little tidbits of advice that might be crucial to your survival. Dark Souls is not "Demon's Souls: Modern Warfare 2", where it doesn't matter that the community has moved on. This is a classic that's going to fade into history.

@whyareyoucrouchingspock said:

Last week I decided to re-install Rome: Total War after years of not touching it. Checking the multiplayer, it was surprisingly still active.

If they opened games up to modding and not such a close fisted approach console gaming has, IP's would have a longer life and be more ingrained with gamers.

Battlefield 3 being a totally closed off game will probably have a much shorter life span than any of the other (more open) Battlefield games that are still fairly active today.

I agree 100%, this is why I tend to be more of a PC gamer for online games. The online community for console games explodes upon release and DLC releases, then slides slowly into obscurity and eventually dies altogether. If server control is in the hands of players any game can potentially live forever. I could totally see a Demon's Souls fansite running a server for players and being relatively popular if it was possible without some elaborate hacking. It's a real shame in Battlefield 3's case as well.

Well, guess I'll be putting Demon's Souls back in my console for the next month and half. I haven't touched it since Dark Souls was released but...it is time.

@CJduke said:

I think everyone who has wanted to play Demon's Souls has already. If not, they can still play it without the multiplayer, or just play Dark Souls

Agree with you on the first part but not on the second one. Demon's Souls has a much better PVE then Dark Souls.

You know...I never actually finished Demon's Souls.

Considering how much that this game probably uses for multiplayer over normal multiplayer games, this seems like they could have kept it going for a while as I'm sure with the length of this that there might be people still going at it.

Sad news, I still prefer Demon's Souls over Dark Souls.

There's already a thread discussing this. Please re-direct your comments and opinion over there.