Keep On Livin': Dark Souls Not Going Anywhere
Keeping on "for the foreseeable future"
Life and death are complicated in Dark Souls. You kill someone, then you go have a sit-down and they're alive again. Or undead again, whatever. Or you rob someone's grave, then discover you're the one who offed them in a time travel lark. Accordingly, the life of the game is a bit messy too. With Games for Windows – Live possibly maybe shutting down (I'll explain--it's daft), publishers Bandai Namco (they switched the name around in April) have reassured it'll still be up and running "for the foreseeable future." As I imagine I'll like to occasionally revisit Dark Souls for years to come, I'm pretty glad.
Dark Souls "will remain fully functional on GFWL for the foreseeable future," Bandai Namco explained yesterday. It's a statement which sparks more confusion than you might expect.
We sorta kinda think Microsoft are turning off GFWL on July 1. Maybe? Microsoft noted the supposed shutdown on the Age of Empires Online support page last August, then swiftly and silently pulled the notice down after people noticed. That several publishers have started ripping GFWL out of their games and replacing it with Steamworks is probably no coincidence, but Microsoft haven't had much concrete to say publicly about GFWL since. Pretending you didn't say something only ever makes it worse in the long run, you big sillies.
Microsoft Studios head Phil Spencer hinted in March that something is up, saying they have mysterious plans for the service but that turning GFWL off "isn't exactly the right thing to do."
Whatever's going on, Bandai Namco reassured a little later that "There is no danger of [Dark Souls] being non-functional." They also say they're "currently seeking avenues to continue support and ensure the functionality of Dark Souls on other services," promising more details on that later. Which could suggest that the GFWL service will continue in a way Namco might not want to use. Or it doesn't. What a big silly mess.
Whether GFWL goes bye-bye or not, it's good to know I should still have Dark Souls.