(too late but...) An open letter to From Software and Mr. Hidetaka Miyazaki.

---

Aug. 20, 2016 (Japanese version of this letter was printed and sent to From Software at this date.)

Hello. Thank you very much for receiving our signatures. Now please allow me to explain our intent and what we actually want you to do here because it might be a bit difficult to understand those things just by looking at signatures. It's going to be a long one but I hope you can take a look.

First, I'd like to list several problems we currently have on Dark Souls Japanese PC edition from consumer's perspective.

--- We can't even install the game.

PC retail version requires you to check the release date of the game before installing the product (probably it's a DRM called ZDPP), but we can't pass that because the server is not functioning. Microsoft's "Games for Windows - LIVE (GFWL)" has been discontinued and apparently, the server for that check is now dead. This process is required when we newly install the game as well as re-installing it. As a result, many legitimate owners of the game now can't even install the product they paid for - this is a very, very serious issue.
Those who had purchased the game before and wanted to try the game recently, those who re-installed the game because they bought a new PC or something, those who wanted to come back to the original after they enjoyed the sequel - those people can't even install and play their game. I once heard that if you bought the download version via Amazon you might still be able to install it, but the download version is no longer available anyway. As for the retail version, the only people who can still play the game is those who have installed it before GFWL got shut down and have been keeping those files on their HDD, or those who have been keeping the backup of those authorized files carefully. Unfortunately, that's not the case with many PC users.
I've personally asked both your company's and Microsoft's customer support for help multiple times, but it didn't solve the problem at all.

--- Online features are no longer supported.

Even if we can launch the game, it doesn't mean we can fully enjoy the game because it looks like online features are no longer supported. The official Dark Souls website states that "you can't play online because GFWL has ended its service." According to my own research, this is not entirely accurate. There are multiple reports suggesting that we can still sign in, and we can still technically play multiplayer on GFWL, although it's hard to test it out considering very few people are playing the game on GFWL now. But it's true that GFWL has ended its support, and based on my impression so far, it seems that neither your company nor Microsft is willing to support online feature of this game anymore - and that is a serious problem for this game. There is no doubt that online features such as co-op and PVP are very important part of this game. I believe From Software designed this game with those aspect in mind. If you can't experience the online aspect, you can't fully experience this game. Online features are especially important for new players in my opinion - they should be able to play this game as it's intended to be played.

--- It's not supported fairly.

I just want to point out here that these problems I've listed so far originated from GFWL's shutdown. Thus, one could argue that it's not necessarily your company's responsibility to solve these issues. However, many of us who knows what happened to the global edition of the same game, are feeling that Japanese version has not been treated fairly.
The Global edition of Dark Souls "Prepare To Die Edition (PTDE)" has already solved these issues by switching from GFWL to Steamworks. Bandai Namco, the publisher for PTDE, reacted to the concerns in May 2014 and successfully made the game compatible with Steamworks in December. Owners of Steam edition could update to the Steamworks edition, and those who bought the game elsewhere could get new version by activating the product keys via Steam at no extra cost. Thanks to this support PTDE players can still install and enjoy the game without worrying about GFWL today.
Dark Souls Japanese PC edition is not the only game that has not been given support for GFWL issue. There are plenty of other games that are left untouched. One could say publishers are not obliged to deal with GFWL fiasco after all. But we know what happened to PTDE. We know that those issues CAN be fixed, we already have a solution. Is it unreasonable for Japanese PC gamers to feel something is unfair? Isn't it understandable for them to feel "From Software should be able to support Japanese version like Bandai Namco did to PTDE" or why only the Japanese version of the Japanese game is left untouched?"

--- It's no longer sold, and PTDE is still region locked.

Your company has apparently stopped selling both retail and download version around the summer of 2015. Japanese gamers can no longer buy the Japanese version of this game today. It is indeed a pretty sad situation but, if we could buy PTDE from Steam, I imagine many of us could maybe say it's acceptable - unfortunately, that's not the case. PTDE is region locked in Japan. It has been region locked to this day. We are not even allowed to buy PTDE instead of abandoned Japanese version. If we try to activate the product keys in Steam, it just says those codes are invalid.
What makes this situation look more depressing is the fact that it tempts Japanese gamers to use VPN. If you want to get around the region lock and buy PTDE, basically you have 2 options. One is to get it as a Steam gift by trading. It's a bit tricky one - usually, you need to use one of those external websites for trading. Prices are unstable, you can't always trust the trader, and you can't pay directly to the publisher. You also have to check whether the gift is region locked or not - some of them can not be activated in Japan. It's possible that someday all of them might be region locked. Another way is to use VPN. You can use it to buy the game or activate the key code. I imagine it's relatively easy and simple, but we all know that it does violate Steam's terms. It's possible that Valve decides to ban your account if you use VPN. It doesn't happen often I assume, but I think it's definitely possible that this kind of practice may lead Valve to consider tighten up its terms more, perhaps to an unnecessary degree. It's surely not the ideal way to purchase the game we love, and I believe your company feels the same. It's frankly pathetic that Japanese gamers have to consider using shady way to buy Japanese game, knowing that there's no such problem whatsoever outside Japan.
As a consumer, we can hardly appreciate business practice like region lock, but it's at least understandable in some situations. Personally, in 2012, when your company started to sell the PC version, I think I could understand the decision to region lock Dark Souls in Japan. I don't think that's a good thing at all but I can understand why you might want to do it. Back then I believe you haven't had any of your game sold on Steam, and you decided to sell them at Amazon, so I understand if you wanted us to buy the game from there. Maybe you wanted us to buy console version instead - it's a bit harder one to understand but sadly it's not that usual especially for Japanese publishers. But now, when we have such serious issues, it's not acceptable for consumers at all. We know the solution to this issue, it's there, on Steam, but we are not allowed to touch it. It's very unfortunate and frustrating.
It's great that now we can buy Dark Souls 2 and 3 on Steam from Japan - they're not region locked, but it also creates a rather sad situation where we can buy sequels but not the original. It's clear that now your company has no problem with doing business on Steam, and you've already stopped selling Japanese version elsewhere - what exactly is the reason or benefit to still region lock this game now?

--- It seems that your company has done very little to tackle this issue.

As I've stated above, it's Microsoft's GFWL that played a major part on this issue. I also understand that publishers don't have the same interest or reasons as consumers do. Ultimately, I think the current situation would be at least understandable if your company has made enough effort to fix this issue as a publisher. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case with this one, I'm afraid. I hate to say this but honestly, from consumers' perspective, it seems that your company has done little to nothing about this issue. It's almost like your company decided to just ignore it and abandon this PC game in Japan.
Since I encountered this problem I've looked around the official website carefully - I've read FAQ, information hoping maybe I could find a clue or understand the situation more. To my surprise, I could barely find just one message that is related to this issue - the one that says "Due to the discontinuance of GFWL by Microsoft, You can no longer play online. You can no longer install or verify this product." That's it. This very simple message, which is rather hard to find and offers very little information, and potentially inaccurate in my eyes, is the only word your company has given to us. When I talked with the customer support, I once heard that the reason your company stopped selling the PC version was to prevent us from buying the product you can't use as it's intended to be used. I wonder if that is the way your company decided to cope with this issue. I agree that selling a product which is not functioning is a problem, but did your company actually try to do anything to save the product in the first place?

--- No communication.

This situation itself is very unfortunate, but another thing that worries me greatly is the serious lack of communication. It's almost shocking that your company didn't show any effort to communicate with your customers at that time. Back in 2014, when PTDE got fixed by Bandai Namco, many of us were waiting for your company's reaction. Many of us thought that maybe From Software could do something as well, or at least could say something about Japanese version. Sadly, you didn't say a word. You said nothing when you stopped selling them as well. I think your company knew when the server for the verification would be discontinued. I believe you could at least warn us, help us to understand the situation, maybe you could encourage us to make backups or something. But you said nothing - as far as I know, there was not a single announcement or anything like that. I can see why you might want it to be this way. I imagine you would get a lot of negative reaction if you talked about it, but was it really the best way to handle it? Was it the right way to tackle this issue as the developer and the publisher of this game? It's hard to swallow the fact that we can't even install the product we paid for, but it's even harder when there's no communication at all. We've been waiting so long for more explanation, your company's sincere words.

--- Why your company might want to fix this issue.

As far as I know, we have only 2 platforms to play Dark Souls in Japan - PS3 and PC. PC is obviously a very important platform for this game, because If we lose it, we can only play it on PS3, which is a decade-old console now. We really love this game. We feel this game will continue to be played from now on for a very long time. We really want PC version to stay as a way to experience this masterpiece. Sure you can still buy PS3 version if you want to play this game, but PS3 is a very old console, not all gamers can afford to buy the hardware, a lot of PC gamers are not really inclined to buy one today, to be honest.
I also have to mention that PC version has a very strong selling point because it can be run at 60 FPS with significantly better graphics thanks to the modding community - you just can't do it on any other platforms. Did you know that dedicated fans on Reddit have created an event this year called "Global Restart Day" to celebrate its launch day and come back once again to this game? Dark Souls is clearly not a game we can easily forget and move on. The player-base of this game on Steam is still surprisingly strong today considering its age.
It's probably true that PC gaming in Japan is not as big as in other countries, and the player-base on PC in Japan is a lot smaller right now, but I believe properly supporting the PC version may very well change that situation. Needless to say, there are many dedicated fans in Japan as well. And even if the player count is extremely small, it surely doesn't mean that we don't deserve decent support from a publisher.

--- For your company's future.

Your company has been achieving major success in recent years. Your games have been very well received around the world, not just in Japan. I have no doubt that many people believe that your company is one of the few Japanese developers that can truly shine and compete in today's global video game market. I think Dark Souls is truly a remarkable game that has a potential to bring us really unique experience that we can't get in any other games. We really love this game. After all, we wouldn't be running a campaign like this if we're not passionate about it. We respect your company and believe in your future, that's why we also believe you can do better. We want to trust you that you are willing to support your games properly.
I feel video games as a media has significantly changed its way to interact with consumers over the past few years. Launching a game is far from the end of the project. How developer and publisher react to the community and support the game determines the longevity of the game. I think video games today has become more and more like an active service than a static product that does not change much after its release, which leads me to think that it's very very unfortunate if this beloved game end like this in Japan. It's unfortunate for your company as well in my opinion, because it'll create doubts in consumer's mind about how you value your community, how you're willing to support your game.
PC gaming is definitely growing in video game industry and a lot of people are interested to see how you'll commit to it in the future. I have talked about this issue on Reddit and many people seemed to be shocked to know this issue. If your company could fix this issue, I'm sure it would make many people happy, not just Japanese fans - they would be able to trust your company even more.

--- What we want your company to do.

I think I've explained enough about this situation from our perspective. So, what is exactly we think your company can do to fix this?
"Please sell Dark Souls Japanese PC edition compatible with Steamworks on Steam store (no more region lock), and make it so that people who bought GFWL version can switch to that version by activating the key."
What we are asking here is basically the same thing Bandai Namco has done to PTDE. If you can do this, we can install and play the game we paid for, we can experience online features on Steamworks which is far more reliable than GFWL. We don't need to trade or use VPN or visit shady key resellers to purchase this game - we can buy this game easily and legitimately knowing that we can directly support the developer.
We want your company to at least fix the issue where we can't even install the game, but that's not going to be enough, and I guess if your company truly want to fix those issues, this is the best and perhaps the easiest way to do it. We already know it works. We can see the solution on Steam now, we just can't touch it from Japan. As I stated above you as a company doesn't necessary have the same interests or reasons as we do, and I'm sure there are a lot of things we don't know or things we don't understand correctly, but I strongly believe that it's possible.

--- What we ask this time.

We want your company to fix these issues but we understand that it will take some time. I want you to understand that what has been driving this campaign is not hostility but our love, passion, and respect for you and your games. We want constructive conversations, not a fight, and we believe that this will benefit both sides. That said, we do want you to communicate with us and show us the next step. So, here's what we ask this time.

- Please let us know what you think, and share some information if you can.
We're not demanding that you should show us your concrete plan immediately, but we do want your sincere words. How do you think of our idea? Another idea? Future plan? Is it possible to disable region lock? Do we need to talk to Bandai Namco? Things we get wrong? Is there anything we can do for you? Now that you've received our signatures, you can start communicating with us from here. We don't expect it to be fixed so soon, but we can make progress and move forward step by step.

- We want to hear from Mr. Hidetaka Miyazaki himself if that's possible.
We want communication. It would be wonderful if we can hear from Mr. Miyazaki himself - even a word or two - because we can then believe firmly that From Software is really willing to tackle this issue. We understand that he should be extremely busy, but we hope you could consider it.

- Please reply to us in any form within 2 months.
We're willing to wait but we want no more silence. We want you to keep in touch and show us the next step. Therefore please allow us to propose this time limit. Again, we're not demanding you to fix this issue within 2 months, we'll be happy if you can communicate with us and show us your next step. If you have any issues with this period or want us to change something, please let us know.

--- Thank you for reading!

I hope I've explained it well enough. I had to criticize a lot, but I want you to know that it's because I respect your company, and I care about you and your game. Dark Souls is a special game. Many dedicated players are still playing this game and still finding something new today, and many new players are exploring this beautifully crafted world as well. We still want to play this game, we still want others to experience this game.
We have waited for so long and we're still waiting with hope in mind. We're not crestfallen yet. We're waiting for that bell to ring again. We're waiting for that day to meet again, on Lordran.

Thank you so much for reading.

Sincerely,
HAL2039
On behalf of the supporters of this petition

Link for this petition: http://goo.gl/j2WwF7
Please look around the comment section if you want.
It will help you to understand where we're coming from.

Reply · Report Post