The Duskbloods: FromSoftware cuts short its first network test

FromSoftware shut down the first session of the closed network test for The Duskbloods on Friday, August 21, 2026, after its servers failed to handle the selected players. On a game where everything runs through the network, this is no ordinary technical hiccup.

The slot had opened at 12:00 pm Paris time and was due to run until 4:00 pm. Instead, participants were stuck on the title screen, with a "Failed to log in" message popping up on every attempt. The game's official account first advised players to move closer to their router or switch to a wired connection, before the studio gave up after about two hours, half the allotted slot.

In a statement released that same Friday, FromSoftware apologized and cut things short: "We regret to inform you that today's session is now closed." The studio says it is continuing to work on its servers and will announce the schedule for future sessions "at a later date." Four slots were still listed on the official schedule through Sunday, August 23; none have been reconfirmed since.

A failure that costs more here than elsewhere

A network test exists to bring down the infrastructure before paying players do, and better on August 21 than on launch day. Still, The Duskbloods is an online PvPvE title exclusive to Nintendo Switch 2, announced for 2026: no single-player campaign to cushion an outage, no offline fallback. What failed here was the game itself. And since no release date has ever been officially confirmed, the time left to try again is measured more in weeks than in months.