Sometimes petitions can seem a little pointless. Lots of names on a list, but no-one listening to the message. This week though, a petition by gamers, to convert the critically acclaimed action RPG Dark Souls for the PC, may actually have hit its mark.
Over 68,000 names are now on the ‘Dark Souls for PC’ petition, which was started in response to a forum comment by Namco Bandai Community Manager Tony Shoupirou:
“There is (sic) always possibilities to have games adapted on PC and the good news is that Dark Souls is not a 100% typical Console game, so the adaptation is possible. Now to make things happen, let’s say the demand has to be properly done. someone to make a successful petition?”
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In a subsequent comment Shoupirou added:
Honestly, I think this is an interesting request and that it deserves to be pushed. Namco have no position for now on this topic: PC versions are considered for many games but as PC is rarely the lead platform for the games released by the company, making PC version very often depends on signs that could come from users or from market globally.
Not long after those messages appeared, a petition had been started, and the number of names on the list grew rapidly. With the petition numbering over 60k, some members of the Namco Bandai forums were concerned that they had received no further response from Shoupirou. To their delight though, he appeared again yesterday, to express his amazement at the success of the petition:
Damn you are amazing! I honestly wasn’t expecting such a massive support. My boss(es) even came to talk to me about this, after it explodes all around the world. If you wanted to have the attention of Namco Bandai Games, now you have it. The future is in your hands, and I hope you will keep supporting this. I make a personal objective to make sure every relevant people in Namco Bandai Games is in touch with this formidable effort. Great Thanks!
So it seems that the petition has been seen by all the right people, but will this influence Namco Bandai’s decision? Shoupirou tried to keep a lid on expectations, saying, “I can’t say it’s going to happen (I wish I had this power ^^), but I can assure [you] management of the company will know about it, and I think that [is] already a good achievement and a good step forward.”
We contacted Namco Bandai, but a spokesman said there is no official comment on Dark Souls PC or the petition at the moment. It will be interesting to see where this story leads, and whether player power will be enough to persuade Namco Bandai to bring Dark Souls to the PC arena.
