Dark Souls PC Petition Has Namco Bandai’s Ear

12 years ago

January 14, 2012 at 7:15 am

Internet petitions are normally as effective in bringing about a desired result as closing your eyes and wishing really hard, but with more than 66,000 signatures accrued in just one week, the petition for Namco Bandai to release uber-challenging dungeon crawler Dark Souls on PC seems to have gotten the company’s attention.

Launched last week when a Namco representative on the company’s forums suggested that strong enough demand could get the job done, the PC Dark Souls petition has been met with overwhelming response, or at least overwhelming enough for the forum admin to get a visit from his higher-ups.

Admin Shoupinou expressed amazement in a follow-up forum post.

Damn you are amazing!

I honestly wasn’t expecting such a massive support. My boss(es) even came to talk to me about this, after it explodes all around the world. If you wanted to have the attention of Namco Bandai Games, now you have it.

The future is in your hands, and I hope you will keep supporting this.

I make a personal objective to make sure every relevant people in Namco Bandai Games is in touch with this formidable effort.

If you’ve not signed the petition yet, go hit it right now. I’d love to play Dark Souls on PC, plus the flood of ridiculous internet petitions that ensues once one is actually successful is always amusing.

Namco Bandai Admin Response [Namco Bandai Forums, via CVG]

Comments

39 responses to “Dark Souls PC Petition Has Namco Bandai’s Ear”

READ THE COMMENTS

McGarnical

January 14, 2012 at 9:13 am

I love that this is happening, and I’ll buy a second copy, but –

I seriously can’t wait for the forum threads complaining about this game.

Reply
1. Zap
  
  January 14, 2012 at 9:31 am
  
  The troll in me hopes they make it Origin exclusive….
  
  Seriously, though, there’s going to be a massive piracy discussion less than a week after they do a PC port, without a doubt. I hope this doesn’t become a case study on why not to port to PCs but it totally will be.
  
  Reply
  1. Trex
    
    January 14, 2012 at 9:40 am
    
    What’s a publisher/developer to do? They lose out to piracy on PC or the trade ins on console. Or in my case only buying games when their at least 50% off.
    
    Reply
  2. AkIRA
    
    January 14, 2012 at 2:02 pm
    
    If this is released on Origin expect the piracy to be rampant from the get go. A single player game like this would be monstered if it was locked down to such an appalling system. P.S. I know there is an online component but lets face it, it’s essentially single player.
    
    Reply
2. Zap
  
  January 14, 2012 at 9:31 am
  
  The tro ll in me hopes they make it Origin exclusive….
  
  Seriously, though, there’s going to be a massive piracy discussion less than a week after they do a PC port, without a doubt. I hope this doesn’t become a case study on why not to port to PCs but it totally will be.
  
  Reply
  1. TheLaw
    
    January 14, 2012 at 11:40 am
    
    Why? Origin is just as ineffective as any other DRM scheme ever conceived, it won’t make a difference to piracy rates.
    
    What will make a difference is if NAMCO BANDAI makes a genuine investment to port the game into a state which is acceptable to PC gamers, as opposed to a half arsed broken port with shitty ass DRM. Releasing a demo also wouldn’t go astray in preventing people from downloading the game to try before they buy.
    
    Reply
    1. Zap
      
      January 14, 2012 at 11:59 am
      
      Well, to troll, essentially. The petition in question (if you get a chance to read it, sorry, lost the link!) requests a PC port sure – but it also stipulates that it needs to be released via Steam, use Steamworks, and be discounted heavily as it’s a “late release” and “a port”.
      
      So they’re not just saying they want to play the game, they want to set the price and force the publisher into an agreement with a distributor/Valve and incorporate their propriety technology (which they’d have to license at a cost) into their product.
      
      I’m not saying a port wouldn’t be cool, what I am saying is that the “petition” really does state [paraphrased]: “This game should have been a glorious PC master race game, everyone knows this type of game is better on PC, the people on PC are better gamers for it, why should any game ever be dirty console peasant exclusive?, port it, but at the same time I’ll only buy it if it’s on my specific distributor of choice and at a massively discounted price. But it’s totally worth your while. Maybe. Also we all know your game is coded poorly and stutters and is shit in a certain area, and we all know PCs are more powerful than consoles, so really, you’re doing yourself a favour by letting people play without it being stuttery”
      
      I wish someone had just written that it would be great to play it on PC, there’s wide range of people who would love to play it on PC, can we have it please? Not the other entitled bullshit written by a 14yo.
      
      So in terms of why Origin? Because it’s an equally valid option as a distribution channel, it’s free for people to download, and if they really wanted to play the game, it shouldn’t matter through whom it’s released.
      
      That aside, I agree that demos would be a good way to go, but honestly it costs a lot of time and money to develop a demo, it’s usually a very big download, and most people who are going to pirate anyway will simply say “Demo wasn’t big enough for me to really get a good impression. I’ll “demo” the entire game first”
      
      Reply
      1. Nikola
        
        January 14, 2012 at 12:11 pm
        
        However, the petition isn’t a contract. Namco Bandai can simply see the demand, and decide to release on their terms which is what I assume they’ll do if they decide to go ahead.
      2. McGarnical
        
        January 14, 2012 at 12:51 pm
        
        Could not agree more.
      3. Puck
        
        January 14, 2012 at 1:23 pm
        
        Asking for a lower price point seems reasonably justified to me, as every multiplatform game that comes out on the PC is discounted, even when they are released simultaneously, and they often throw in the DLC for free – there’s a pricing precedent for a reason. But it doesn’t seem silly and a bit over-entitled to mention it when you’re trying to petition for the games release!
        
        Steam is also “free to download”, so it’s not much of a pro in Origins favour. And I believe that Steamworks integration is completely free (anybody know for sure?), so I don’t think there are any licensing fees being forced upon them if they chose to go this path.
        
        The main complaint I have with Origin is that it’s late to the party. All my games are on Steam and I like having them all in one place. Steam seems like a slightly better service all round from my experience, but my main reason is that it was there first. My other reason is that I completely trust Valve – they’ve shown an understanding and commitment to their customers that I can picture EA looking at and thinking – “Hmmm, honesty seems to be working for them… we can fake that”.
        
        This info about a potential PC release has made me hold off from buying a console copy… fingers crossed I can soon enjoy it at 2560×1600 at 60fps.
      4. Chazz
        
        January 14, 2012 at 2:01 pm
        
        The petition is linked in the article. Here’s the link again.
        
        http://petitionbureau.org/DarkSoulsForPC
        
        No demands are made, no PC master race claims or anything of that sort or is there an entirely different petition out there?
      5. Chazz
        
        January 14, 2012 at 2:04 pm
        
        For the tl;dr version
        
        It suggests steam/steamworks as a good client/drm to use and points out that online stuff does work better on PC.
      6. Alex
        
        January 14, 2012 at 9:56 pm
        
        But what if they don’t release a demo!?
3. gumby
  
  January 15, 2012 at 4:18 pm
  
  will buy if pc
  
  Reply
Sam

January 14, 2012 at 10:20 am

In before bad port

Reply
1. McGarnical
  
  January 14, 2012 at 10:42 am
  
  I can’t decide if the narrow FoV or the “bad mouse controls” will be the number one complaint.
  
  Reply
  1. Zap
    
    January 14, 2012 at 12:24 pm
    
    I’ve got $50 on “stupid consolised experience/UI/menus”
    
    Reply
    1. Freeze S. Preston Icequire
      
      January 14, 2012 at 1:20 pm
      
      No no no. The biggest complaint will be the title screen says press start
      
      Reply
      1. Zap
        
        January 14, 2012 at 1:29 pm
        
        …that would be AWESOME.
      2. Tigerion
        
        January 16, 2012 at 12:26 pm
        
        I hate it when that happens. My keyboard doesn’t have a start key so I either need to go out and buy new hardware just so I can play it or I can never play the game.
Xasrai

January 14, 2012 at 11:13 am

I signed it. Am I the only one who is just optimistic about this?

Reply
1. NotAbbott
  
  January 14, 2012 at 11:20 am
  
  Nope, I signed it weeks ago in vague hope something might come of it. Just the thought of playing Blighttown at a solid frame rate is enough to whet my appetite, never mind the promise of improved textures and resolution. I’ll triple dip in a heart beat, Namco.
  
  It will make 5 copies of *souls games in my house. Do it!
  
  Reply
  1. LukeN
    
    January 14, 2012 at 11:33 am
    
    Also signed it and I can’t even stand the series, however I know tons of people that do so if there is a chance we can get it on pc for those that want it then why not.
    
    Reply
2. quicktooth
  
  January 14, 2012 at 10:25 pm
  
  I signed it too, and I’ll buy it on PC 😀
  
  Reply
Sam

January 14, 2012 at 11:55 am

This worries me because if they release it and sales aren’t good we may never see some other niche games ported, I guess you’ve got to try it at some point to know, but I’d prefer it was done with a more PC friendly game. If they’d been released side by side I still would have bought the PS3 version over PC : /

Reply
sharmona

January 14, 2012 at 11:56 am

what will consoles have left once they lose Dark Souls?

Reply
1. Matthew K
  
  January 14, 2012 at 12:57 pm
  
  I wasn’t aware Dark Souls is the only game console gamers are able to play.
  
  Reply
2. McGarnical
  
  January 14, 2012 at 1:32 pm
  
  The couch.
  
  Reply
MrBS

January 14, 2012 at 1:35 pm

Can’t wait to buy it for $5 from steam 😉

Reply
Stephen

January 14, 2012 at 2:09 pm

I disapprove putting this game on PC, people would just hack and cheat the game to pieces.. sort of ruins the whole experience.

*Goes back to crying to losing to four kings on ng+ for the 100th time*

Reply
LDX

January 14, 2012 at 2:30 pm

as long as there’s no damn regional pricing… i hate that so much.

Reply
Underworld

January 14, 2012 at 3:46 pm

Don’t do it! How many of those 66,000 will actually buy the game…..honestly. And the ones that do, will no doubt complain about the controls.
Just keep it on consoles. If you want to play it, buy a console.

Reply
Wayno@War

January 14, 2012 at 11:01 pm

Haven’t even finished Demon’s Souls yet. Amazing but every bit as frustrating and brutal. I was weak. I gave up.

I’d still like to see a PC port of Dark Souls. If my mediocre laptop could run it well, I’d buy it for PC.

Perfect recliner/ headphones material for when the missus wants to watch soapies, or some other shit on tv.

Reply
El Mucha

January 15, 2012 at 2:12 pm

I think porting it to PC is a stupid idea.
Why?
Because they will pirate the living hell out of it, and Namco will refuse to make another Souls game.
PC gamers are just purley mad because their gaming style is dying, and they try to take one of the ONLY good console games

THIS IS WHY WE CANT HAVE NICE THINGS

Reply
NotheMama

January 15, 2012 at 5:24 pm

Why bother? You PC ‘gamer’ c**ts will just pirate the holy hell outta this anyway!
And dont bullshit me & say you wont, half of you are planning to already

Reply
1. Chazz
  
  January 15, 2012 at 5:28 pm
  
  You say that as if console gamers wouldn’t do the same if given the chance.
  
  Reply
  1. Matthew K
    
    January 15, 2012 at 10:02 pm
    
    While probably true, the fact that just about every multiplatform sells considerably less on the PC does imply that PC gaming is either:
    
    a) an insignificant market; or,
    b) mostly comprised of people who don’t pay for their games
    
    Reply
    1. Xasrai
      
      January 16, 2012 at 12:16 pm
      
      And yet we see games like minecraft with over 20 million people playing. WoW still has over 10 million paying subscription fees. Swtor launched a beta with over 2 million people trying it out. Dying? Hardly.
      
      Reply
      1. Johnny Sweetbread
        
        January 16, 2012 at 5:12 pm
        
        I believe the Minefart client is multiplatform (includes smartphones/tablets). To be totally honest I’d rather poke myself in the eye with a fork than play WoW and Minefart.
        
        I use my PC for text based MUDs over my telnet client.

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Dark Souls PC Petition Has Namco Bandai’s Ear

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39 responses to “Dark Souls PC Petition Has Namco Bandai’s Ear”

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