Close to 19,000 people have signed an Internet petition demanding that publisher Namco-Bandai release the upcoming PC version of Dark Souls without Games for Windows Live.
The petition, which roughly a bazillion people have e-mailed to Kotaku since Dark Souls: Prepare to Die was revealed last week, asks Namco to replace the much-maligned Games for Windows Live platform with a more convenient service, like Steam.
They write:
GFWL is unpopular, difficult to use, inconvenient, has terrible online support (a key feature in Dark Souls), and is downright unpleasant. After anxiously awaiting a PC release for this fantastic game it feels like a real slap in the face hearing Dark Souls will use Games for Windows Live. We recommend Valve's Steamworks in place, as this DRM is much easier to use, less intrusive, more reliable, and more accepted among PC gamers. Please reconsider the use of GFWL, or offer the game on both services. Thank you for taking the effort to port this game, but for a lot of customers it's Steam or no sale.
While filing a petition on the Internet is usually as futile as writing comments on the Internet, an Internet petition could very well be why Dark Souls is coming to the PC in the first place. So maybe this one will work too.
I've reached out to Namco Bandai for comment and will update should I hear anything.
Namco-Bandai and From Software: Release Dark Souls PC Edition without Games for Windows Live [Change.org]