The first Nintendo Switch 2 Direct revealed not only a port of FromSoftware’s modern classicElden Ring, but also a new game from the studio calledThe Duskbloods. While details about this title are currently scarce, it is confirmed to be directed byDark SoulsandElden Ring’s director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, and it is being advertised as a multiplayer game. According to the official FromSoftware website,The Duskbloodsis an eight-player PvPvE title, though what that will mean for its structure and gameplay loop has yet to be fully explained. Regardless, gamers are already intrigued aboutThe Duskbloodsfor a couple of key reasons.
Many FromSoftware fans who were watching the Nintendo Direct quickly thought ofBloodborneupon witnessingThe Duskbloods, and some were stunned to learn that the game willlaunch exclusively for the Nintendo Switch 2. This certainly isn’t the first time Nintendo has secured a high-profile, third-party exclusive, withBayonetta 2and3being standout examples, but it seems to be a strange move on FromSoftware’s end, and it only gets stranger the more one discovers about it.
FromSoftware Normally Prioritizes PlayStation Releases For Its Games
Since the very beginning of its pivot from general software development into video games in particular,FromSoftware has been associated with PlayStation platforms. More than half of its game catalog has been released exclusively for PlayStation consoles, and FromSoftware has kept up this practice from the launch of the PlayStation 1 to the middle of the PlayStation 4’s life.Bloodborneand the PSVR titleDéracinéwere FromSoftware’s last PlayStation exclusives, and they were even published by Sony, another trend that dates back to FromSoftware’s earliest gaming efforts.
FromSoftware and Sony Have Shared A Long and Fruitful History
The very first game that FromSoftware ever made,King’s Field, was a December 1994 launch window title for the PS1, and Sony stepped in topublishArmored Coreand the European release ofKing’s Field 2in 1997. Sony hasn’t actually published many of FromSoftware’s games since then, but these interactions seemed to have sparked a loyalty to Sony’s platforms that lasted for a long time. PlayStation exclusivity, and even PlayStation publishing, has been woven into FromSoftware’s history, so the abrupt swerve to a different platform withThe Duskbloodscomes as a surprise.
The Duskbloods Launching As A Switch 2 Exclusive Is Sudden and Unusual
A FromSoftware Soulslike Is Skipping PlayStation Hardware For The First Time
Compared to its run on PlayStation, FromSoftware hasn’t done much with Nintendo platforms. Those consoles are typically excluded when a FromSoftware title is multiplatform, and only one of FromSoftware’s handful of Nintendo exclusives was also published by Nintendo. So, it came as a shock when Nintendo’s Switch 2 Direct devoted several minutes to revealing that FromSoftware’sThe Duskbloodswould be a Switch 2 exclusive release. After more than 30 years of major FromSoftware games, besidesLost Kingdoms 1and2, avoiding Nintendo systems and releasing on PlayStation consoles,The Duskbloodshas suddenly turned that tradition on its head.
It’s too soon to say definitively thatThe Duskbloodsis intended to be a lifelong Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive, but that may end up being the case. While there’s no obvious technological reasonThe Duskbloodscouldn’t be ported elsewhere,the Switch 2’s more-powerful hardwarereduces the need for such ports. It also appears that Nintendo and FromSoftware may be co-publishingThe Duskbloods, making ports feel even less likely, so it appears FromSoftware’s history of releases on PlayStation will have to omit this upcoming title.
