Dark Souls free with Dark Souls III pre-orders on Xbox One [Update]

According to a listing on the Australian Xbox.com website, Dark Souls will be free with all Dark Souls III pre-orders.

Dark Souls III will be released on 12 April for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. If the posting is accurate, those who pre-order the game through the Xbox Store will receive a download code for the original game.

As with Quantum Break‘s pre-order incentives, codes for the bonus game will be sent out from within a week of the game’s release.

Related: Dark Souls II review: fan service

Dark Souls debuted on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. It will be part of the Xbox Compatibility programme.

The second game also debuted on last generation consoles and PC, but was remastered and repackaged for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin.

With Microsoft coupling all of the Gears of War titles with Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, Alan Wake titles with Quantum Break, and now Dark Souls to name a few, the technology giant appears to be pushing the Xbox brand as much as possible.

It appears as though Microsoft is set on giving away last generation games with pre-orders of new titles, a new trend we hope more companies adopt in the future.

Update: Major Nelson has confirmed the inclusion of Dark Souls with Dark Souls III pre-orders on Xbox One.