Co-op and Disconnect Issues#

Multiplayer in Bloodborne is built on PlayStation Network (PSN): co-op takes at most three players and requires a PS Plus membership; if you cannot find anyone, first check your matchmaking region and NAT type, restart the game after resuming from rest mode, and when a disconnect prompt appears, wait before doing anything. This page goes through each symptom in turn, with its cause and the steps to deal with it.

This is a paid game: the US digital version of the base game is 19.99 US dollars, and the Old Hunters expansion is charged separately; for the purchase structure and version differences, see the dedicated Price and Buying Advice page. Multiplayer has no separate paywall, but both online co-op and PvP require a PS Plus membership—a point that will come up repeatedly below.

What Is the Basic Shape of Multiplayer in This Game#

First, lay out the official description of the multiplayer framework; every troubleshooting step below builds on this table:

One line worth memorising is the PS Plus one: many players assume that playing co-op only does not require a membership, but in reality co-op and invasion are both online functions and both require membership. The only exception is Chalice Dungeons—downloading dungeon generation data shared by other players does not require membership, but going in to fight is still an offline action; see the dedicated Chalice Dungeon page for the mechanics.

What Items Do You Need for Co-op, and How Do You Ring the Bells#

There is no menu-based direct invite in this game; everything is done with bell items. The rules are as follows:

• Beckoning Bell: used by the host; after ringing it, the search for co-op guests begins.
• Small Resonant Bell: used by guests; after ringing it, you wait to be summoned into the host’s world.
• Sinister Resonant Bell: used by invaders, to enter someone else’s world as a hostile.
• Silencing Blank: used by a guest to leave of their own accord, and can also be used by the host to send them back.

Two more hard rules on matchmaking:

1. Password matching: up to 8 characters, and it only applies to co-op, not to PvP. When playing with a friend, setting the same password on both sides greatly raises the matchmaking success rate.
2. Level difference limit: the summoning range has a level difference limit, and going beyond it means you will not find anyone. The exact formula has never been published officially, and community calculations differ; it is best to check both players’ levels directly with a community-maintained summon range calculator rather than trusting any precise formula.

In addition, patch 1.05 (released on the July 13, 2015 server maintenance day) changed two things: Insight is no longer deducted when matchmaking fails to complete; and with password matching, a higher-level guest’s attributes and level are scaled toward the host to avoid stat crushing. This is where the old claim among veteran players that ringing a bell costs Insight comes from—after the patch it no longer does.

What to Do When You Cannot Find Anyone or Match with Teammates#

Work through the following in order of how often each one is the cause:

1. Check the matchmaking region setting: go into the game settings and set the matchmaking range to Worldwide. Region restriction is a common reason for not finding anyone, especially now that the player base is smaller than at launch.
2. Restart the game and try again: if the console has just come back from rest mode, matchmaking may be in a non-functional state (see the next section).
3. Check the level difference: if the two players’ level gap is outside the summoning range, ringing will produce no result either; confirm it with a community calculator.
4. Check your PS Plus status: once the membership expires, neither the host nor the guest can complete online matchmaking.
5. Check your NAT type: when the NAT type is 3, multiplayer functions are restricted; see the ports section below for how to deal with it.

What to Do When Matchmaking Fails After Resuming from Rest Mode#

This is an old problem with an official statement: suspending the game directly with the console’s Suspend/Resume function and then waking it up leaves the game unable to complete matchmaking. Sony confirmed this behaviour in an April 2015 statement, and the fix is simply to restart the game; Sony also said a later patch would address the issue.

In practice it comes down to one line: do not expect to ring a bell and find someone right after waking from rest mode; close the game completely and start it again first. The same applies to the case where the game is clearly running but never matches—restart first, then look at the network.

How to Handle the “Network connection failed” Disconnect Prompt#

When the “network connection failed” prompt appears during multiplayer, the community-tested order of action is:

1. Do not press confirm yet: wait a moment, the connection often recovers on its own, and pressing confirm cuts the session immediately.
2. Switch from a wired connection to WiFi if it is unstable: this counter-intuitive tip comes from community experience; in some environments WiFi is actually more stable.
3. Look at the underlying network if it keeps dropping: follow the ports and NAT type section below.

One thing worth explaining: this game also has a layer of performance frame drops during multiplayer that is easily confused with network lag—performance drops noticeably during online co-op or invasions, falling from 30 frames to around 20 in some scenes. This is an original mechanic with no fix, and offline play is unaffected. If the feeling of stutter also reproduces in offline mode, that is a frame pacing problem rather than a network one, and it belongs to the Crashes and Black Screen Fixes page.

NAT Type Restricted: Which Ports to Open#

When the NAT (network address translation) type is 3, multiplayer functions are restricted, showing up as trouble finding people and frequent disconnects. The way to improve it is to put the console in a more open network environment (enable UPnP on the router or forward ports manually). The ports below are compiled from the Q&A section of a community wiki, are from a single source, and are for reference only:

Key points for the operation: port forwarding is done in the router’s admin interface, targeting the console’s local address; after changing it, re-test the NAT type in the console network settings, and the ideal result is type 2. On campus or corporate networks where the router cannot be changed, all you can do is accept restricted matchmaking or switch to a different network environment.

Why Do I Keep Getting Invaded, and Can I Stop It#

Invasion is not a random event; it has a clear trigger chain:

• Invasions must be guided by a Bell Ringer (Chime Maiden), which generally appears when the host brings people in for co-op—you called for help, so invaders follow the bell in. Playing solo, the chance of a passive invasion is far lower than when co-oping.
• Two exceptions, the Nightmare Frontier and the Nightmare of Mensis: as long as you are online, a Bell Ringer spawns there on a fixed basis even if you are not co-oping.
• Killing the Bell Ringer stops further invasions, which is the standard move for players who want to play through in peace.
• Opposing covenants change the nature of matchmaking: members of the Vileblood and Executioner covenants cannot co-op with each other normally, and when matched they enter as hostiles. Think it through before choosing a covenant; see the dedicated Covenants page for the mechanics in detail.

Is Co-op Any Different on PS5#

The conclusion is: it is not different. What runs on PS5 is the backward-compatible version, still locked at 1080p/30 with no performance mode, and no 60-frame update has ever been released officially—the single biggest community complaint for years, with no official action as of October 2026. Therefore:

• Co-op player count, matchmaking rules and disconnect handling are identical on PS4 and PS5, and every criterion on this page applies to both.
• The co-op frame drop issue (falling to around 20 frames during co-op) is preserved as-is in PS5 backward compatibility mode.
• Multiplayer still runs inside PSN; there is no such thing as a PS5-exclusive server or cross-platform matchmaking.

Hunters who want to play quietly on their own can simply disconnect the network in the settings and play offline; the cost is no messages, no bloodstains and no summoning. Newcomers weighing that trade-off can refer to the Beginner’s Guide.

Can You Play Co-op on PC (State of Community Solutions)#

First the facts: this game has never had an official PC release, and every kind of PC co-op outside PlayStation is a community solution with nothing to do with the publisher, and requires you to supply your own legitimate copy of the game. The situation in 2026 is:

• The shadPS4 emulator ecosystem implements summoning and multiplayer between emulator players through the community projects shadNet and shadp2p.
• The Windows build of the community port project bbport has supported beta online features since October 2026: through the community server The Hunter’s Dream and the bbbridge tool, it enables messages, bloodstains, wandering phantoms and bell summoning.
• Community PC multiplayer and the official PSN servers are completely incompatible; they are two separate networks, and players on either side cannot see the other.
• The online beta involves account files, so be sure to keep them safe.

Launch crashes, corrupted saves and similar problems with the PC solutions themselves have nothing to do with networking, and are all collected on the Crashes and Black Screen Fixes page.

Are the Official Servers Still Up#

They are. As of October 15, 2026, no official server shutdown announcement has been found; store page reviews continue to be updated through March 2026, and community PvP activity and guide records run on into 2025—2026, so the official multiplayer service can be judged to be still operating normally. Still running more than ten years after release is a fairly long-lived case among Sony first-party titles.

The conclusion for returning players: there is no need to worry that the servers were shut down long ago; ringing a bell still finds people, it is just that matchmaking speed depends on the time of day and your matchmaking region setting—setting the range to worldwide and avoiding the late-night hours is the fastest way to team up right now.

Quick Co-op Troubleshooting Checklist#

Finally, the criteria on this page compressed into one quick reference list:

• Cannot find anyone, then set the matchmaking region to worldwide, then check the level difference, then confirm PS Plus is active.
• Matchmaking broken after resuming from rest mode, then restart the game completely.
• Disconnect prompt, then do not press confirm and wait for it to recover on its own, then switch from unstable wired to WiFi.
• NAT type 3, then enable UPnP on the router or forward ports (TCP 18671, 20443 and so on).
• Constantly invaded, then kill the Bell Ringer; avoid the Nightmare Frontier and the Nightmare of Mensis; be careful about choosing opposing covenants.
• Stuttering but it also stutters offline, then it is not a network problem but frame pacing and co-op frame drops; see the fixes page.
• PC multiplayer, then community solutions only, incompatible with PSN; take part in unofficial projects with caution.

Related pages: FAQ collects general questions and answers on combat and mechanics; Price and Buying Advice explains the purchase structure of the base game and expansion; for the overall framework of the game, see the Bloodborne section home page.