FromSoftware knows how to build punishing worlds, but this week the studio ran into an enemy it couldn’t dodge-roll: its own servers. The first closed network test for The Duskbloods, the developer’s upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive, was cut short on August 21, 2026, after server issues made the session unplayable for many of the invited players.
Closed network tests are supposed to be a controlled stress exercise — a limited pool of players hammering the infrastructure so the studio can spot bottlenecks long before launch. In that narrow sense, mission accomplished: the servers buckled, and FromSoftware got exactly the kind of brutal feedback it presumably went looking for. The problem is that it happened fast enough, and hard enough, to force the test to close early rather than run its full course.
For a project riding on FromSoftware’s post-Elden Ring reputation, the optics aren’t ideal. The Duskbloods leans heavily into online play, which makes a smooth-running backend non-negotiable rather than a nice-to-have. A network test that falls over in a matter of hours is a reminder that even the most celebrated single-player craftsmen face a very different set of engineering challenges once persistent multiplayer enters the picture.
It’s worth keeping perspective, though. Early network tests going sideways is practically a genre tradition — plenty of major online titles have stumbled through chaotic first betas before shipping in solid shape. The whole point of testing months ahead of release is to break things while there’s still time to fix them. A collapsed session is embarrassing, but it’s far better to discover the ceiling now than on day one with the full player base logging in at once.
What matters next is how quickly FromSoftware diagnoses the fault and whether it can rebook a stable session. The studio hasn’t been shy about wanting Switch 2 owners to experience The Duskbloods’ connected systems, and a functional network test is the prerequisite for that pitch to land. Until then, the takeaway is straightforward: the game’s online ambitions are real, and so are the growing pains.
Players hoping to get hands-on with The Duskbloods early will have to wait for FromSoftware to steady the infrastructure before another test window opens. For now, the first attempt goes down as a rough start — the kind of setback that’s forgettable if the studio learns from it, and a warning sign if it doesn’t.
