FromSoftware’s ‘The Duskbloods’ Delayed to 2027: What Went Wrong, What’s Changing and Everything We Know

The vampires are going to have to wait a little longer to feed. FromSoftware confirmed on Oct. 29 that The Duskbloods , Hidetaka Miyazaki’s gothic multiplayer bloodbath and the most anticipated exclusive on Nintendo Switch 2, has slipped out of 2026 and into 2027. There is no new month, no new date, and no new trailer. Just a year on the box, an apology, and a promise that the studio is fine-tuning how the game actually plays.

For a lot of horror gamers, this one stings on Halloween weekend. The Duskbloods has been sold since day one as the closest thing to a spiritual heir to Bloodborne that the studio has made in a decade: Victorian streets, cursed bloodlines, firearms in one hand and a blade in the other. Below, we break down exactly what FromSoftware said, what went wrong during August’s rough network test, who is making the game, how this delay fits the studio’s track record, and what to watch for between now and whenever 2027 actually means.

Is There a Trailer?

Not a new one. The delay came by way of social posts, not a video, and we couldn’t confirm an official Nintendo or FromSoftware upload of the earlier trailers that we could safely embed here (the copies circulating on YouTube are re-uploads from outlets and fan channels, which we don’t embed). The most recent official footage debuted during the June 9, 2026 Nintendo Direct, a roughly minute-long, mood-heavy teaser with no new gameplay and no date, per VGC. Meanwhile, Nintendo’s own store listing for the game now shows its release date simply as 2027. Tellingly vague.

The Details: What FromSoftware Actually Said

The announcement landed on the game’s official X account on Oct. 29, and was quickly picked up by Gematsu, GamesRadar and Wccftech. Paraphrasing the statement: development has reached its final adjustment stage, and the team decided to move the launch window to 2027. It apologized to fans who have been waiting and thanked them for their patience.

A follow-up post, reported by GamesRadar, gave the reasoning. During the network test, the team saw strong interest in the game’s core pillars, which it described as combat, strategic depth and player expression. To push those further, FromSoftware wants more time for what it called adjustments to “game rules and balancing.” That’s it. No feature list, no new modes, no mention of the server problems that dominated the test’s first day.

Here is everything confirmed about the game right now:

• Platform: Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive. FromSoftware is listed as developer and publisher on Nintendo’s store page.
• Release: 2027. No month or day.
• Director: Hidetaka Miyazaki, his first directing credit since Elden Ring.
• Players: Up to eight in a match, mixing PvP and PvE. Nintendo’s own description has you fighting alongside and against up to seven others using blood-based powers.
• Characters: A roster of vampire-like fighters called Bloodsworn, with more than 10 planned at launch according to previews; six were playable in the August test.
• Online: The network test required a Nintendo Switch Online membership.

Who’s Behind It

Miyazaki is the reason this game carries so much weight. He directed Demon’s Souls , Dark Souls , Bloodborne , Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and Elden Ring , the run of games that turned “FromSoftware” into a genre shorthand. Bloodborne in particular, a 2015 PlayStation 4 game about a plague-ridden gothic city and the horrors beneath it, remains one of the most beloved horror games of its generation, and fans have begged for a sequel or remaster for years. When The Duskbloods was revealed with its blood-soaked Victorian look, the comparisons were instant.

Photo: Hidetaka Miyazaki via Wikimedia Commons ( author and license), cropped.

According to Wikipedia’s entry on the game, Miyazaki has described the original pitch to Nintendo as closer to a loose bundle of ideas than a polished presentation. Nintendo bit. The project reportedly began on the original Switch, then pivoted once Nintendo briefed the studio on Switch 2, which pushed the team to lean harder into online play. In previews from FromSoftware’s Tokyo offices in August, Miyazaki said the game has been in development since 2021, per Tech Times.

Producer Yasuhiro Kitao has been the other public face of the project. In a Famitsu livestream recapped by GamesRadar in August, Kitao said network test applications outstripped those for Elden Ring Nightreign ’s own test, which he admitted surprised the team given Switch 2’s smaller install base compared with Nightreign’s multi-platform audience. Miyazaki, in the same coverage, pushed back on the idea that FromSoftware is pivoting to multiplayer as a new studio direction.

The Backstory: From Reveal to Delay

The Duskbloods’ road to 2027, in order:

• April 2, 2025: Revealed during the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct as a PvPvE multiplayer action game, Switch 2 exclusive, due in 2026, per Gematsu’s announcement report. It was FromSoftware’s first game exclusive to a Nintendo home console since Lost Kingdoms II in 2003.
• June 5, 2025: Switch 2 launches; The Duskbloods is still pegged for the following year.
• June 9, 2026: A new teaser airs in a Nintendo Direct, along with word of a closed network test later that summer. FromSoftware still says 2026, and Kadokawa, the studio’s parent company, reportedly keeps it on its 2026 slate, per VGC.
• Aug. 20, 2026: Hands-on previews go live from outlets that visited FromSoftware’s Tokyo HQ, per Tech Times.
• Aug. 21, 2026: The first network test session collapses. Players are stuck on login and menu screens, and FromSoftware closes the session, per Nintendo Life.
• Aug. 24, 2026: Kitao reveals the test drew more applicants than Nightreign’s.
• Oct. 29, 2026: FromSoftware confirms the move to 2027.

The network test is the key chapter. Session one opened Aug. 21 at 6 a.m. Eastern and never really got going. Nintendo Life reported the studio’s support account apologized and closed the session, promising updated schedules later; Tech Times listed four more windows across that weekend. Coverage afterward was mixed: GamesRadar noted complaints about performance and that the PvP side didn’t land with everybody. Previews described a single map, Lowarno City, matches built around four timed phases, attacks that don’t cost stamina while dodging still does, and a target of 60 frames per second at roughly 1080p.

By the Numbers

• 2021: the year Miyazaki says development started.
• 8: maximum players per match.
• 6: Bloodsworn playable in the August test, out of more than 10 planned.
• 5: network test windows scheduled for the opening weekend, the first of which was canceled.
• 30 million+: lifetime Elden Ring sales as of July 2025, with Shadow of the Erdtree past 10 million and Nightreign at 5 million within about two months of its May 30, 2025 launch, per PC Gamer.
• 23 years: the gap between FromSoftware’s last Nintendo home-console exclusive and this one.

Analysis: What the Delay Really Means

Start with the good news, because there is some. FromSoftware delaying a game is not a red flag on its own. The studio has moved release dates before, and nobody remembers those waits once a game is good. The key line in the statement is about rules and balancing, not content or technology. That reads like a studio that has a game, has data from thousands of testers, and doesn’t love the way matches currently feel. For an eight-player competitive game, that is exactly what you want them worrying about.

The comparison that matters most is Elden Ring Nightreign. It was also a multiplayer spin on the FromSoftware formula, it also had a bumpy first network test session, and it shipped anyway and sold 5 million copies in roughly two months. That proves the studio can fix server problems quickly and that its audience will follow it into co-op and competitive experiments. What Nightreign had that The Duskbloods doesn’t is reach: PlayStation, Xbox and PC at once. The Duskbloods lives or dies on one platform, which is why Kitao’s applicant numbers matter so much. If a Switch 2 test beat a multi-platform one for sign-ups, the demand is real.

The bigger concern is the gameplay feedback. Inven Global’s preview, as summarized by Tech Times, found that the roguelike-style upgrades during a match gave only small stat bumps, making rounds feel repetitive. Repetition is poison for a multiplayer game that needs people coming back nightly. If the extra months go toward making each match feel different, with more maps, more meaningful power spikes and a sharper PvE threat, the delay will look smart in hindsight. If 2027 drifts toward late in the year, it starts to feel like a game still searching for its hook.

There is also a platform-strategy angle. Nintendo built a lot of Switch 2’s grown-up credibility on getting a FromSoftware exclusive at all. Losing it from the 2026 lineup means the console’s first full holiday season goes without its most horror-forward exclusive. For Nintendo, a polished hit next year beats a rushed one now. For players who bought a Switch 2 partly for this, the wait is the price.

And for horror fans specifically: The Duskbloods is not Bloodborne 2, and FromSoftware has never said it is. It is a competitive multiplayer game wearing gothic horror clothes. The delay is a reminder to set expectations around what it actually is, a vampire battle royale with FromSoftware combat, and judge it on that.

What We Still Don’t Know

• When in 2027. Wccftech guesses March or later is likely, but that is speculation, not an official window.
• Whether there will be another network test before launch, and whether it will run on improved servers.
• What the rules and balancing changes look like in practice: new maps, revised upgrades, changes to PvP.
• Final roster size and whether there’s any meaningful solo or PvE-only option.
• Price, physical edition plans and any post-launch content roadmap.

The next likely venue for news is a future Nintendo Direct or Kadokawa’s next earnings update, either of which could narrow the window.

Bottom Line

FromSoftware is choosing to tune its vampire brawler instead of shipping it into a crowded holiday with a rough test still fresh in players’ minds. Based on the studio’s history, that’s a safe bet. Based on the August feedback, it might also be a necessary one. The blood can wait. The question is whether the game we get in 2027 gives people a reason to keep coming back night after night.

So tell us: does a 2027 delay make you more confident in The Duskbloods, or are you starting to worry? And would you still rather FromSoftware just make Bloodborne 2?

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Photo: Hidetaka Miyazaki via Wikimedia Commons ( author and license), cropped with text added.

Sources: Gematsu, GamesRadar, Wccftech, Nintendo, Nintendo Life, GamesRadar (network test applicants), Tech Times, VGC, Gematsu (2025 announcement), PC Gamer, Wikipedia.