The online servers for Demon’s Souls, like those adventures brave enough to enter the game’s brutally harsh world, will inevitably meet their demise. But Atlus is doing what it can to keep online play — the lifeblood of the Demon’s Souls experience — alive and well for as long as possible.
To that end, Atlus today committed to supporting the game’s North American online servers through at least March 2011, and to honor that commitment is setting the game’s World Tendency to Pure White for the next couple weeks. That doesn’t necessarily mean the servers will suddenly just shut down once April 2011 comes along, but this is a sign that a server shutdown is likely coming sooner rather than later — and if that happens, hopefully From Software will have a sequel ready to rescue the many souls lost as a result. Of course, as long as the game continues to attract late adopters and the community stays strong, I’m sure Atlus will keep the servers running past March, but only time will tell.
This news actually brings up an interesting topic that I’m not sure has gotten as much attention as it deserves. With more and more single-player games being fitted with online features, are we now in an era where say five years from now games we are paying for and playing today will lose important content as new games and hardware come along and servers are inevitably shut down? Demon’s Souls is very much a single-player game, but it’s online components are what make it unique and innovative, so to already see its future in question is disturbing to me.
What do you think? Are you worried about the growing ties between single-player gaming and online connectivity and the potential impact it could have on games as they age?
Matt Litten is the full-time editor and owner of VGBlogger.com. He is responsible for maintaining the day to day operation of the site, editing all staff content before it is published, and contributing regular news, reviews, previews and other articles.
Matt landed his first gig in the video game review business writing for the now-defunct website BonusStage.com. After the sad and untimely close of BonusStage, the former staff went on to found VGBlogger.com. After a short stint as US Site Manager for AceGamez, Matt assumed full ownership over VGBlogger, and to this day he is dedicated to making it one of the top video game blogs in all the blogosphere.
Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary! 
