Creator of Bloodborne 60fps Patch Says Sony Has Sent Him a DMCA Takedown — but Why Now?

The creator of the high-profile Bloodborne 60fps patch has said he’s received a DMCA takedown from Sony.

Well-known video game tinkerer Lance McDonald announced the news in a tweet, saying he received a takedown notification on behalf of Sony Interactive Entertainment “asking that I remove links to the patch I posted on the internet, so I’ve now done so.”

McDonald then pointed to one of his YouTube videos on the Bloodborne 60fps patch, which he released in 2021, and recounted a meeting with former PlayStation executive Shuhei Yoshida in which he mentioned he made the 60fps mod for Bloodborne.

“I met @yosp and said to him ‘I make mods for PlayStation games’ and he said ‘oh!.’ And I said ‘I made the 60fps mod for Bloodborne’ and he laughed so hard.”

Bloodborne is of course one of the biggest conundrums in the video game industry. The FromSoftware masterpiece launched on PS4 to critical and commercial acclaim, but since then Sony hasn’t touched it. Fans are desperate for an official next-gen patch that would make the game run at 60fps, up from 30fps, but there are also calls for a remaster and a sequel.

That leaves it to the likes of McDonald to plug the gap. But more recently, fans managed to get PS4 emulators to deliver something akin to a remaster on PC. The tech experts at Digital Foundry released a video covering “a breakthrough in PS4 emulation” via ShadPS4, which means Bloodborne is now fully playable start to finish in 60fps. Could this breakthrough have triggered an aggressive response from Sony? IGN has asked Sony for comment.

Earlier this month, Yoshida delivered his Bloodborne no-show theory in an interview with Kinda Funny Games:

“Bloodborne has always been the most asked thing,” Yoshida began. “And people wonder why we haven’t really done anything, even an update or a remaster. Should be easy, right? The company is known for doing so many remasters, right, some people get frustrated.

“I have only my personal theory to that situation. I left first-party so I don’t know what’s going on, but my theory is, you know because I remember, you know, Miyazaki-san really, really loved Bloodborne, you know, what he created. So I think he is interested, but he’s so successful and he’s so busy, so he doesn’t want, he cannot do himself, but he does not want anyone else to touch it. So that’s my theory. And the PlayStation team respect his wish. So that’s my guess, right? Theory. I am not revealing any secret information, to be clear.”

The upshot is Bloodborne remains dormant nearly 10 years after the first game came out. But is there hope? In interviews, Miyazaki often deflects questions about Bloodborne, pointing to the fact FromSoftware does not own the IP. But in February last year, Miyazaki at least admitted the game would benefit from a release on more modern hardware.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.