The release date for Dark Souls III‘s first helping of DLC has been brought forward due to a “logistical error” that saw it launch several days early on Xbox One, publisher Bandai Namco has announced.
It emerged last Friday that the game’s Ashes of Ariandel add-on had accidentally been made available on Xbox One for owners of Dark Souls III‘s season pass, enabling those on Microsoft’s console to play the new content five days earlier than expected.
The mishap follows a similar slip-up back in March that resulted in the West being able to download the full game three weeks ahead of an official release in Europe/North America by purchasing it through Microsoft’s Japanese store.
In a statement to GameSpot (via VG247), a Bandai Namco spokesperson said that “due to a logistical error, the Dark Souls III Ashes of Ariandel DLC was made available for download for a short period of time for Xbox One players.” The statement continues to confirm that the release date for the DLC has been brought forward by a day, and will now launch today at 9 pm PDT/6pm EDT/5am BST.
Kudos to Bandai Namco for at least attempting to solve the situation with an early release, but the one-day-earlier launch will make little difference to those outside North America.
Let’s hope the issue doesn’t re-occur a third time when Dark Souls III’s second – and final – DLC launches next year.