Elden Ring Dev Has 'No Idea' Why It's Selling So Well

Game ZXC

Elden Ring

Highlights

Elden Ring's success as a best-selling game has surprised its creators, who are still unsure why it resonated with so many players.
The game's open-world structure, challenging combat, and variety of playstyles contribute to its appeal, offering a high level of freedom to players.
From Software will continue creating games based on its proven methods and focus on creating enjoyable experiences, rather than solely chasing big hits.

Elden Ring’s producer Yasuhiro Kitao has recently talked about the success of the game, revealing that From Software is not entirely sure why it was such a big hit. Elden Ring is one of the best From Software games, as it mixes an open-world structure with difficult combat and a good variety of playstyles, but it seems that the exact reason why the game has been so successful eludes even its creators.

Released back in 2022, Elden Ring quickly became From Software’s best-selling title. Earlier this year, Elden Ring surpassed 20 million units sold. As a comparison, Dark Souls sold over 16 million units, including all its different releases, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice only recently surpassed 10 million in sales.

Custom Elden Ring Models Prove Its Bosses Look Adorable as Slugs

A talented Elden Ring fan turns its diverse cast of challenging boss fights into a series of notably less intimidating clay figures.

During a recent interview at the PlayStation Partner Awards 2023 in Japan, Yasuhiro Kitao revealed that the massive sales of Elden Ring were very surprising for the developers. According to him, "We still haven’t been able to analyze why so many people play the game, and we have no idea why it’s selling so well.” When asked why Elden Ring was so successful, Kitao explained that he believes the game offers a high level of freedom to players, and this keeps them engaged.

The producer also denied that From Software will change its approach to making new games to continue to cash in on the success of its latest Soulslike title. Kitao explained that From Software’s main goal is to focus on creating games that are fun to play. So, the studio will not be aiming exclusively for big hits, but rather keep using the same methods to create successful games that it has been employing so far, and measuring the results against its own quality standards. In any case, Elden Ring is among the best open-world games out there, so it’s likely that From Software will eventually release a similar game, be it a sequel or not.

We still haven’t been able to analyze why so many people play the game, and we have no idea why it’s selling so well.

Before being done with Elden Ring, From Software will still release the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC. Recently, From Software’s parent company, Kadokawa Corporation, has talked about Shadow of the Erdtree, stating that the Elden Ring DLC does not have a confirmed release date yet. In any case, it’s likely that the DLC, which is expected to be considerably big, will be out sometime during 2024, as it’s very unlikely that it will be released in the last couple of weeks left in 2023.

Elden Ring

Elden Ring is a fantasy action-RPG adventure set in a world co-created by Hidetaka Miyazaki, the creator of the influential Dark Souls video game series, and George R.R. Martin, the author of the best-selling fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire. This collaboration between two renowned creators has resulted in FromSoftware's largest game to date, filled with danger and discovery at every turn. Hidetaka Miyazaki, president and game director of FromSoftware, has a history of directing highly acclaimed games in franchises such as Armored Core and Dark Souls.