Lance McDonald, the creator of the popular Bloodborne 60fps patch, has announced that he received a DMCA takedown notice from Sony Interactive Entertainment. The notice demanded the removal of links to the patch, which McDonald has complied with. He highlighted the irony, referencing a past meeting with former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida where he casually mentioned creating the mod, prompting laughter from Yoshida.
Bloodborne's continued absence from next-gen platforms is a significant point of contention among fans. While the game received critical acclaim upon its PS4 release, Sony has yet to release an official 60fps patch, remaster, or sequel, despite considerable fan demand. This lack of official support has left a void filled by community efforts like McDonald's patch and recent breakthroughs in PS4 emulation, such as ShadPS4, which enables near-remaster quality 60fps gameplay on PC. This recent emulation advancement may have contributed to Sony's more assertive action. IGN has reached out to Sony for comment.
Earlier this month, Yoshida offered his perspective on Bloodborne's inactivity in an interview with Kinda Funny Games. He theorized that Hidetaka Miyazaki's deep personal attachment to the game, coupled with his busy schedule and reluctance to allow others to work on it, prevents any official updates or remasters. Yoshida emphasized this was merely his personal theory and not a leak of confidential information.
Despite Miyazaki's frequent deflection of Bloodborne questions in interviews—often citing FromSoftware's lack of IP ownership—he did acknowledge in February 2023 that the game would benefit from a release on more modern hardware. Thus, Bloodborne remains a dormant yet highly anticipated title, nearly a decade after its initial release.