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Bloodborne turns 10 years old today, and fans are celebrating by organizing yet another return to Yharnam community event.
FromSoftware’s PlayStation 4 masterpiece launched on March 24, 2015, and helped cement the Japanese developer as one of the greatest of our time. Critical and commercial acclaim followed, and a follow-up in the vein of the Dark Souls sequels seemed inevitable.
But since then… nothing. Why hasn’t Sony followed up Bloodborne with either a current-gen remaster, a full-on sequel, or at the very least a next-gen update that would finally make it officially playable in 60fps? Fans have begged Sony for more Bloodborne ever since it came out. The deafening silence in response remains one of the most puzzling business decisions in all video games.
Earlier this year, we got an explanation of sorts. Following his exit from Sony, PlayStation legend Shuhei Yoshida revealed his Bloodborne no-show theory. To be clear up front: this is Yoshida’s opinion, which in an interview with Kinda Funny Games he stressed was not inside information, or the reveal of the current deliberations within the bowels of Sony itself.
“Bloodborne has always been the most asked thing,” Yoshida said. “And people wonder why we haven’t really done anything, even an update or a remaster. Should be easy, right? The company is known for doing so many remasters, right, some people get frustrated.
“I have only my personal theory to that situation. I left first-party so I don’t know what’s going on, but my theory is, you know because I remember, you know, Miyazaki-san really, really loved Bloodborne, you know, what he created. So I think he is interested, but he’s so successful and he’s so busy, so he doesn’t want, he cannot do himself, but he does not want anyone else to touch it. So that’s my theory. And the PlayStation team respect his wish. So that’s my guess, right? Theory. I am not revealing any secret information, to be clear.”
Miyazaki-san is of course Hidetaka Miyazaki, the boss of FromSoftware. And yes, he’s incredibly successful. Not only for the influential Dark Souls series, but, most recently, the mainstream hit Elden Ring, which propelled FromSoftware to new heights. So much so that it’s getting a multiplayer spin-off this year.
And it seems obvious to say Miyazaki will be incredibly busy with multiple projects to direct and a company to run. After Bloodborne came out in 2015, Miyazaki directed Dark Souls 3, then 2019’s Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice for Activision, then the aforementioned Elden Ring for Bandai Namco. What’s next? Miyazaki has yet to say.
In interviews, Miyazaki often deflects questions about Bloodborne, pointing to the fact FromSoftware does not own the IP. But in February last year, Miyazaki at least admitted the game would benefit from a release on more modern hardware.
In the years since, modders have tried to fill the gaps with fan-made projects that improve upon the base PS4 Bloodborne experience. But Sony has taken a dim view. Well-known Bloodborne 60fps mod creator Lance McDonald announced in January that he’d received a takedown notification on behalf of Sony Interactive Entertainment “asking that I remove links to the patch I posted on the internet, so I’ve now done so.” The DMCA takedown arrived four years after the mod was released.
Then, just a week later, Lilith Walther, creator of Nightmare Kart, which was previously known as Bloodborne Kart, and the eye-catching Bloodborne PSX demake, tweeted to say an old YouTube video of the demake was hit with a copyright claim.
Recently, fans managed to get PS4 emulators to deliver something akin to a remaster on PC. The tech experts at Digital Foundry released a video covering “a breakthrough in PS4 emulation” via ShadPS4, which means Bloodborne is now fully playable start to finish in 60fps. Could this breakthrough have triggered an aggressive response from Sony? IGN asked Sony for comment at the time, but it has yet to respond.
That’s all we have to go on, really, which leaves Bloodborne fans to take it upon themselves to organize Return to Yharnam community events. Another kicks off today, on Bloodborne’s 10th anniversary, and calls on fans to create a new character, and summon as many random cooperators and invaders as possible, and leave in-game messages flagging they’re a part of this latest community drive.
Perhaps this will be all that’s left for fans to do in the world of Bloodborne forever more.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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