Because ever since that was announced pc gamers were angry and demanded the game to be released somewhere else like Steam, but so far Namco Bandai has not commented on the situation.

Released on means sold on, which it will be...

GFWL is the multiplayer client and DRM solution, not a store exclusive. Shit, does GFWL even still have a store?

Anyway last I read they were looking into changing the client they are using, but no word as of yet. I personally don't care which one they use, so maybe someone else has paid more attention.

They might change it, but it is unlikely because it is the same online component as XBOX Live and that's one thing you don't need to port.

TotalBiscuit explained it well in one of his mailbox episodes; in short, it's going to only be on GFWL because the online matchmaking component is brought over from XBox Live, as DodoGeo mentioned. That saves them time and money on the PC port. If demand for Steam/removal of GFWL continues *and* sales of Dark Souls for PC are strong, we'll likely see the next game in the series using Steamworks or something else.

Sadly that is not going to happen because I know all of the pc gamers are going to pirate the shit out of this game........................................please do not pirate it.

They do but very very little is exclusive, if any of it anymore. I honestly don't care what they use either. I don't really understand the shitstorm over GFWL all the time. Cause it's cool to hate Microsoft.

It is logical that they use GFWL to get it out the door as fast as possible. Personally I have no problem with it. The game is useless to me the moment the servers disappear anyways, although in an ideal world we would be able to keep the game alive ourselves when that happens.

From what I have heard if you actually play multiplayer its shitty interface is thrown in your face, but as a singleplayer guy GFWL has never given me a problem.

Even if it is shitty though the idea of avoiding a game because of it is baffling to me.

Expect a huge backlash and high piracy rates if the go with GFWL, the petition against GFWL gained more then a third (almost half) of the signatures of the bring it on pc one.

GFWL is horrendous for multi, only a few months ago I played Liberty City episodes with my friend, and we spent a good hour troubleshooting problems before playing a single multiplayer game. Oh and when we did start paying, there were numerous time outs until we just canned it. Same for Resident Evil 5 coop. We are both on fiber optic connections and were playing at off peak times. For comparison, we played portal 2, TF2 (on a 32 man server), serious sam 3 16 coop and L4D2 versus with out a single hitch, both on and off peak times.

Yes, steam for multi is a much better choice.

To add insult to injury, after my most recent format of the HDD, I am now locked out of my GFWL for online, sidelining me to offline gaming. Went through support and thier answer was to reformat, which I will not do since I've set up and organized everything in order, taking a week's time.

Either they drop GFWL like a stone or I'm just going to play other online heavy games (which DS certainly is, people) made by companies who give a damn about their customers. I've got the money ready for a full price purchase, I hope From software goes for steam.

Last I knew, they are still in the talks about what DRM to use. GFWL isn't official yet. It might still be Steam.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/04/17/namco-bandai-dark-souls-games-for-windows-live-drm-decision-ongoing/

Can't we just have it on GoG and be done with it? /wishfulthinking

Dark Souls is one of my favorite modern games, but even if it does drop GFWL I probably won't buy it. I already have it on PS3, and I'm assuming the extra content will come there as DLC eventually (if not, I'll have some choice words with Namco. They will involve the words\ "shotgun" and really not much else).

Wonder what other corners they will cut in order to save time or money...

I fear that them choosing GFWL shows that either they don't care enough to look at what PC gamers want, which would be not GFWL and Steam instead, thus will be a shit port. Or, they looked at what gamers want and determined not to give that and to instead save some time and money...again, shit port.

I hope I'm wrong, but that's what I fear may happen.
I have it on PS3 though, so I'm good. Granted there are some framerate problems on PS3.

Mmm - shit port for sure... I can't recall a good port to be honest :D

It's a tradeoff. If the developers are given a certain amount of time/money to do the PC port, would you want to risk the potential of running over budget and going past your deadline to do something as significant as replace GFWL with Steamworks, when you have the rest of the game to work on?

Some would probably say, "I wouldn't mind it if the game came out later if it meant the removal of GFWL", but the publisher likely wouldn't see it that way. Namco Bandai will surely want to see an ROI as soon as possible, especially for an investment that rests on the support of a potentially fickle fanbase. From Software would likely want to also get the game out the door to capitalize on the buzz surrounding the PC port.

It's not an optimal situation, but nevertheless, if PC gamers really were serious about wanting Dark Souls on the PC, this is the time for them to put their money where their mouths are.

I have to say, this is reminiscent of the situation that faced the PowerPC Mac ports of AAA titles about 10 years ago; often Mac-PC multiplayer compatibility had to be cut due to code conversion issues going from x86 to PPC, problems that porting houses couldn't deal with given their limited time/expense budget.