FromSoftware delays The Duskbloods to 2027 for final balance work

Hot off the wire, and colder than a Switch 2 holiday slate: FromSoftware has delayed The Duskbloods. The Switch 2 exclusive, due this year, now has a 2027 launch window. No month. No day. ¹

The studio announced the move on Thursday, October 29. Its stated reason is final adjustments to the game’s rules and balance, informed by feedback from the August network test. ²³

FromSoftware says players showed active interest in the game’s core ideas during that test: combat, strategic depth and player expression. The studio wants to push those further, and it says the extra time is how it plans to do it. ³ In a separate post to followers, it added that the title is meant to be enjoyable not only through direct combat but through various maneuvers and diverse strategies. ²⁴

The studio says development is at the “final adjustment stage,” which tells you the game is not being rebuilt from scratch. This is a tuning job, not a teardown. ¹³

Fans saw this coming. The Duskbloods was among the no-shows at the September 2026 Nintendo Direct. ³ The August test itself got off to a rocky start: the first day brought server problems that kept players from logging in, and FromSoftware ended the test early. ³ Its retail neighbors were not helping either. Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 6 is launching in November, and that is a lot of shadow to ask a new multiplayer game to stand in. ²

For those new to the case file: The Duskbloods is a match-based multiplayer game with PvPvE mechanics. Players control characters called Bloodsworn who fight monsters and each other. Eight players compete for victory points called Virtue, and there is more than one path to winning. ² It will be FromSoftware’s first new release since last year’s Elden Ring Nightreign. ²

The studio apologized to players who have been waiting and thanked them for their patience and support. ¹ Interest in the test was high; the number of applicants reportedly surpassed that of the Nightreign closed beta, which ran on two consoles. ¹

Our read: A delay that stays inside the same year’s neighbor, the next one, is the cheapest kind of bad news a studio can deliver. FromSoftware is blaming balance and rules, not content, and for a game built on eight-player matches with multiple routes to victory, balance is the whole ballgame. I’ll believe a release month when the studio puts one in writing. Until then, 2027 is a window, not a date, and windows have a way of sliding. The wise money watches for a second test before launch.

Footnotes

1. gamingbolt.com, “FromSoftware Delays The Duskbloods to 2027”. Retrieved November 1, 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. Polygon, “Switch 2 Exclusive The Duskbloods Officially Delayed, Now Set for 2027”. Retrieved November 1, 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

3. IGN, “The Duskbloods Officially Delayed Into 2027”. Retrieved November 1, 2026. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

4. Kotaku, “Elden Ring Director Hidetaka Miyazaki Explains What You Actually Do In Bloodborne-Looking Multiplayer Switch 2 Exclusive Duskbloods”. Retrieved November 1, 2026. ↩