When FromSoftware announced Elden Ring, most people were intrigued by what it would be and what it would bring, especially with George R.R. Martin attached to help make the game’s story and lore. However, no one, not even FromSoftware itself, could’ve expected the outpouring of sales numbers that came following its release in 2022. It blasted past all expectations and became the best-selling game that FromSoftware had ever done by a wide margin. Then, for the next two years, the team worked hard on the DLC for the game Shadow of the Erdtree, which just recently released. Due to its release, the UK saw a massive surge in the main game’s sales.
The news comes from Gameindustry.biz, which noted that because the DLC required the main game to play, sales of Elden Ring in the UK shot up 467% from month to month. That’s an insane amount and highlights just how enticing the DLC was to some players. For context, on the UK charts, the main game previously had a spot at No.19, then, because of the surge, it shot all the way up to No.4. To be fair, while that doesn’t mean it sold millions in the UK thanks to this surge, it, at the very least, sold many hundreds of thousands of units to get that high up on the charts, and that again highlights how big the DLC was for it.
Plus, that doesn’t account for how this might have affected other regions like the US and Japan. If even partial boosts of this level happened, that’s big sales all around for a game that came out two years ago. Most DLC releases don’t do these kinds of numbers, so that makes this one special.
Of course, the irony of this is that there has been serious backlash with FromSoftware’s latest DLC. The question of how well designed it was isn’t in question, as critics loved the DLC and felt it was both a beautiful extension of the main game while also feeling like its own thing. The controversy came in with the difficulty of the DLC. Many felt it was too hard, even for a FromSoftware title. Some people even went straight to making mods that would lighten up the difficulty just so people could beat it without having to break their fingers or controllers.
Even still, the main game and DLC appear to be doing quite well, and that’s something that should make the developer happy.
