Just Like Rockstar, Sony Takes Down 60 FPS Bloodborne Mod but Likely for a Good Reason

The community backing for Bloodborne remains immense, even a whole 9 years after its initial launch for the PlayStation 4. While the title is generally recognized as one of the greatest video games ever made, many modders still take it upon themselves to improve the game further.

One of the most popular mods ever made from the game was recently forced to be shut down by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The Bloodborne 60 FPS patch was confirmed to have been taken down today – but it could be for a very good reason.

Sony issues DMCA takedown for Bloodborne 60 FPS patch

The creator of the 60 FPS patch for Bloodborne, Lance McDonald broke the news of its DMCA takedown to be from none other than Sony themselves. 

Sony also requested Lance to remove all links to the patch he may have posted on the internet, to which he has complied. Attached to the post was a link to Lance’s YouTube channel, as well as a picture of him with Shuhei Yoshida.

On February 21st, 2021, I created and released a patch for Bloodborne which makes the game run at 60fps. Today I received a DMCA 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

— Lance McDonald (@manfightdragon) January 31, 2025

For the uninitiated, Lance McDonald’s patch used certain optimizations and tweaks to get the game running on jailbroken PlayStation 4 hardware at 60 FPS, instead of 30.

This effort is even more impressive when you dig a bit deeper into its development. The PS4 version of the game was hard-coded to run at 30 FPS in most regions, and could barely even maintain it to being with. The mod makes the game run at 720p along with a few hacks in order to hit the 60 FPS mark (50 FPS on a base PS4, but the change is immediately apparent).

Historically, Sony has never been as opposed to mod development and game preservation (at least in recent years – past the Bleem! lawsuit), especially when compared to the likes of Nintendo.

Regardless, the removal of such an important mod is quite unfortunate and sets up a bad precedent for game preservation. After all, there is no way to play Bloodborne outside of the PS4 and PS5 currently – with the PS5 ‘version’ simply being a PS4 copy running via backward compatibility.

This move is nothing short of baffling – and the sudden takedown of the mod so close to the game’s 10th anniversary draws in a lot of curious speculation.

With the tenth anniversary approaching, could a remaster be on the cards?

Bloodborne reaches 10 years of age on March 25, 2025, which could call for some celebratory announcements from Sony. Fans have been clamoring for a remaster and/or remake of the game (which it so desperately needs) since the reveal of the PlayStation 4 Pro.

Sony could secretly be preparing a remaster of the game ahead of its tenth anniversary, with a potential PC port being in the cards. This could most likely explain the sudden DMCA takedown of the mod, barring which would make little sense.

A recent string of takedowns was recently issued by Rockstar Games as well, for the Grand Theft Auto Vice City and GTA 4 mods released for GTA 5. Rockstar could also be preparing for a re-release of the classic GTA games on modern hardware (with hopefully better ports this time around).

Both companies could potentially be wanting to steer would-be players away from playing a last-gen version of the game for much cheaper or free with potentially the same performance that the remaster would bring. This would incentivize the player base to spend for a remake.

However, it should be noted that most would purchase a proper port regardless, given its easier setup and better quality-of-life improvements.

Another probable reason would be no reason at all, other than Sony deciding to drop the hammer on mods because it could potentially infringe on their property’s rights, which is something more akin to what Nintendo would do.