That's a lot of Tarnished.
Bandai Namco has announced that Elden Ring, FromSoftware’s collaboration with George R. R. Martin and 2022’s game of the year by a distance, has sold over 20 million copies in just under a year. The game was released on February 25, 2022, to near-universal praise and acclaim, a sentiment shared on Steam where just under half-a-million user reviews aggregate to ‘very positive’.
The news was shared by a tweet from the official account alongside a press release, which describes the game as allowing players “to enjoy highly flexible adventures in a vast world with a variety of situations.” I mean, I guess if being curb-stomped repeatedly by giant monsters is highly flexible then that’s accurate.
The release also flags some of the game of the year awards Elden Ring has received, before adding a line that more-or-less confirms DLC and/or a sequel is on the way: “The companies would like to thank everyone who has played this game from the bottom of their hearts, and will continue to develop various ways for the fans to enjoy the world of Elden Ring in the future.”
Our heartfelt thanks for your support and companionship on this journey.#ELDENRING pic.twitter.com/S8eqiNk0UvFebruary 22, 2023
Elden Ring is a very good game even if it hewed much more closely to the established Souls formula than expected: Even PCG’s resident grump Andy Chalk thought it would be rubbish before finding it taking over his life. And figures like these really show what Fromsoft has built. Bandai Namco announced in March last year that the Dark Souls series, three games in total, had sold a combined 33.4 million, while Sony’s recent remake of Demon’s Souls (the game that began the series) had sold 1.4 million as of the last official figures (September 2021). 20 million over a year in that context is extraordinary.
And hey, Fromsoft, you want to boost those figures even more? Bloodborne PC. I’m just saying…
Elden Ring fans are now awaiting what feels like an inevitable DLC announcement, though some are arguably taking things too far. There was also the curious insight recently that more players have completed the game with the Ranni ending, requiring you to go somewhat off the beaten path, than the more standard route through the game. On PC at least there’s no shortage of things to do thanks to modders, with the most notable recent example being a mod that lets you fly around the Lands Between on a broomstick pretending to be Harry Potter.
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