Dark Souls 2: Crown of the Ivory King DLC is delayed (update)

Dark Souls 2: Crown of the Ivory King, the third DLC chapter for the Dark Souls sequel, is being delayed on all formats, Bandai Namco confirmed today.

The DLC release, originally scheduled to launch on Sept. 24, will now see a release on Sept. 30 for Steam and Xbox Live. The DLC will launch for PlayStation Network on Oct. 1. Publisher Bandai Namco offered no explanation for the delay.

Crown of the Ivory King, the final downloadable add-on for Dark Souls 2, will send players to a frozen, desolate land where blinding snowstorms and ice-covered monsters will deliver what may the game's most difficult challenge yet.

The new add-on will also introduce a new gameplay element to Dark Souls 2, called followers. Over the course of the downloadable content, players can gradually accrue followers — allied, AI-controlled characters — who will help them in a battle against a tough boss character. The more followers a player has, the lower the difficulty of that final fight will be.

Check out our interview with game director Yui Tanimura about what you can expect from the upcoming release.

Update: According to a North American Bandai Namco Games press release from Tuesday, Sept. 23, Crown of the Ivory King will arrive on PlayStation Network, Xbox Live and Steam Sept. 30.