We now have new information on Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, but it may not be what you want to hear.
As reported by Eurogamer, the DLC came up in the latest financial call with Kadokawa Games. For those who are unaware, the Japanese media conglomerate, who once published Grasshopper Manufacture’s Killer is Dead and Lollipop Chainsaw, has owned Elden Ring’s developer, FromSoftware, since 2014.
Getting back to Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, Kadokawa simply said this:
“We are currently working hard on the development of DLC for Elden Ring, but we have not announced a release date at this time.”
Kadokawa also reported that their gaming division had greater than expected operating profits, thanks to residual sales of Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon and Elden Ring. Both have received steady sales months after their original release.
But of course, we know well that FromSoftware has earned a high reputation among gamers, that sales of their titles are doing very well. It’s why Sony took some shares in the company as well, and it seems that Sony would want to make the studio first party if it was possible.
In terms of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, there had been a spate of rumors about its development, that we should probably disregard as their sourcing seems suspect. For now, we can corroborate that FromSoftware announced the DLC in February of last year, and that FromSoftware producer Yasuhiro Kitao stated in an event that development of the DLC was ‘progressing well’ but still had a long way to go.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree seems to be a fittingly large expansion to the main game, at least in terms of storyline. So we may be looking at a significantly sized amount of content, possible half as big as the main game, or even bigger.
And that brings up questions FromSoftware fans may raise in time. As we don’t know how long they will take to make this DLC, how much of this will take away from development of other future and upcoming FromSoftware titles? If Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree takes two years to make, does that make for two years when they didn’t make a new Dark Souls, or other original games?
Thankfully, we don’t expect this DLC to take as long as George R R Martin is taking on his books, but perhaps gamers may regret their desire for more Elden Ring content. At the very least, maybe FromSoftware should have looked at what Nintendo did with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and decide to just make a new game out of their ideas for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. In any case, we won’t have any answers on this for a while.
