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Dark Souls PC online servers are down following reports of a security issue

The servers have been "temporarily deactivated to allow the team to investigate".

Bandai Namco has been forced to shutter the PC PvP servers for all Dark Souls games following "recent reports of an issue with online servers".

While console servers currently remained unaffected, it's thought the same exploit may be possible via FromSoftware's Elden Ring PC servers, too.

Cover image for YouTube videoLet's Play Dark Souls 2 Episode 1: DARK SOULS HARDER - Dark Souls 2 PS4 Gameplay

"PvP servers for Dark Souls 3, Dark Souls 2, and Dark Souls: Remastered have been temporarily deactivated to allow the team to investigate recent reports of an issue with online services," a brief notice on series' official social media channels stated earlier today. "Servers for Dark Souls: PtDE will join them shortly. We apologise for this inconvenience."

While the publisher stopped short of specifying what the issue specifically is, players are pointing to posts on the Elden Ring subreddit that states "it is now possible for Dark Souls 3 invaders to run code on your PC without permission. AKA RCE, Remote Code Execution. This same hack is possible in Elden Ring".

RCE hacks enable unscrupulous players to hack and take control of opponents' PC (thanks, The Verge) and was reportedly discovered when a streamer fell victim to the hack whilst livestreaming. The hacker purports they'd tried to contact FromSoftware about the vulnerability but received no response, so felt their only recourse was to target livestreamers on air.

Right now there's no word on when servers may be restored, so keep an eye on the Dark Souls social media channels for the latest information.

ICYMI, a group of Chinese players recently analysed the map used in the Elden Ring beta test to uncover secrets about the game.