From Software recently shut down Bloodborne‘s online servers, only a week after launching The Old Hunters. Dubbed “emergency maintenance,” no explanation was given, but there was evidence players had found a loophole to play the DLC for free. Now, it’s back online, and the DLC exploit has apparently been gutted.
Though it’d originally been announced Bloodborne might be down for several days, it came back rather quickly. A patch updating Bloodborne to version 1.08 went live yesterday, and the ability to play online with others soon followed.
Here’s how From Software described the update:
The emergency server maintenance which occurred from yesterday (1-Dec, Tues, around 15:00) has been completed.
Also in regards to the issues like NPC survivor state not handed over properly which occurred in the previous update, we have provided a latest update (1.08) where such issues have been fixed. We are deeply sorry to cause such inconvenience.
Please apply the latest update (1.08) and enjoy playing “Bloodborne”.
Weirdly, the downtime was never mentioned on Sony’s PlayStation Blog or Twitter account, and the company never responded to my requests for comment on what was happening. Instead, public statements were limited to a Japanese Twitter account that, on occasion, would link to pages explaining the updates.
The Old Hunters costs $US20 ($27), but a loophole, supposedly discovered after the DLC went live, allowed players to unlock the content by summoning into the game of someone who already owned it. Though I was unable to verify these reports myself, since the game was offline, I found several players claiming it worked.
The speculation became more intriguing when the game’s developers refused to explain the downtime, only saying they’d received information about a “an exploit and serious issues that exist in the game”. Free DLC would likely quality!
Know what’s stranger? After my article was published, that comment was then deleted from the Bloodborne subreddit without any explanation at all, and it appears the account itself — timatscea — has disappeared from reddit. Huh.
Conspiracy? Probably not. Sony and From Software worried people like myself were connecting dots they were hoping other people would overlook? Maybe.
In any case, it appears From Software managed to close the DLC loophole, with players who previously took advantage of it reporting they’re now locked out of the DLC, despite having played around in the new areas only a few days ago.
It’s cool that people get to keep the weapons, I guess? (Whirligig saw or bust!)
I’m so glad the servers are back online. Having stumbled onto the game’s final, brutal boss — remember, I’m playing on New Game Plus — I could use some help.
See you out there, good hunters.
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