Highlights
- The company behind FromSoftware and Elden Ring plans to expand the game further, suggesting that the upcoming DLC may be more significant than expected.
- Sales for Elden Ring are slowing down, prompting FromSoftware and parent company Kadokawa to take measures to maximize the game's lifetime value.
- The prioritization of Elden Ring's DLC over the release of Armored Core 6 implies its greater importance, raising questions about what these measures entail.
The company in charge of FromSoftware and Elden Ring seems to still have some big hopes for the game years after its release, with potential plans to substantially expand it in the future, suggesting that the upcoming DLC might be even more significant than initially expected. Being one of FromSoftware's biggest and most notable releases yet, it's not hard to see why it'd be considered a huge deal.
With news about Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC still quite slim, there's been a lot of theorycrafting as to what exactly the expansion pack might entail. Considering FromSoftware's track record, it's a given that something sizeable and interesting is coming, but the specifics of it all are still shrouded in mystery, and the latest quarterly report from the Kadokawa Corporation might fuel this fire further still.
FromSoftware's parent company, Kadokawa, released a quarterly report detailing some tidbits of information about its plans for Elden Ring. One of the more notable, albeit not unexpected, reveals that sales are slowing down for Elden Ring, and Kadokawa and FromSoftware aim to "maximize [the] lifetime value" of the game by conducting "various measures" in the future, likely referencing the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. What's particularly curious, however, is that the DLC for Elden Ring is positioned higher in the report than the upcoming release of a wholly different FromSoft title, Armored Core 6.
Armored Core 6 has been a long time coming, but as the game is due to launch on August 25, it's fairly curious to see it show up below Elden Ring in Kadokawa's quarterly report. Though it's not outright stated, the obvious implication is that Kadokawa prioritizes the importance of Elden Ring's upcoming content over that of Armored Core 6's release date, which is fairly curious.
There's also the question of the aforementioned measures to maximize Elden Ring's lifetime value for Kadokawa. Elden Ring hasn't yet released any DLC, with only a few major content updates so far. It's unclear whether there are more Elden Ring DLCs underway or if Shadow of the Erdtree itself will be substantial enough to draw more people into the game long term.
Yet, FromSoftware's seminal open-world title is clearly still in the zeitgeist. People are baking Elden Ring-themed birthday cakes and having fun with the game and its universe all the time, so it's not hard to see why Kadokawa would be looking to leverage the IP for all its worth. What exactly comes of the company's efforts remains to be seen.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Series X/S.
