A recent discovery reveals that Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC may have been in development for longer than it initially appeared. Given the amount of time that it's been in the works, this could indicate that the new expansion may be bigger and more ambitious than fans expect.FromSoftware and publisher Bandai Namco released the open-world action RPG Elden Ring in February 2022. Featuring gameplay based on FromSoftwhere's popular Dark Souls series, it iterates on the formula in various ways, earning nearly universal acclaim from fans and critics alike. FromSoftware announced Elden Ring's first major expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, on February 28. While fans don't know much about the upcoming expansion, and FromSoftware still hasn't revealed a release date, that hasn't diminished fans' excitement for the upcoming DLC.Elden Ring fans may now have a new reason to be excited. While FromSoftware only announced Shadow of the Erdtree this past February, it's reportedly been in development for almost a year before that. This information comes from reading the LinkedIn profile of senior FromSoftwhere developer Kenneth Chan. The Producer and Co-Director for the studio's upcoming Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, he's also the Lead Game Designer for Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree. According to Chan's profile, he's held the latter position since April 2022, about 13 months ago. Chan's profile previously listed the DLC as an "unannounced project."
It's not surprising that Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree was well into development before FromSoftwhere officially announced it. However, it's big news to find out that the expansion's already been in development for over a year as of this writing. It may have been even longer, as Chan's LinkedIn profile only revealed how long he'd been on the project. It's entirely possible that Shadow of the Erdtree's development began almost immediately after Elden Ring launched.
There's no rule governing how long a DLC stays in development. A minor content update might only take a few months, while more ambitious expansions have development cycles comparable to some standalone games. However, it's worth noting that Elden Ring was in development for around five years, stretching from the end of 2016 to around December 2022.
This does not necessarily mean that Shadow of the Edrtree will have exactly one-fifth the content as the base game. Still, it seems like this expansion has been in development for quite a while compared to how long the studio worked on Elden Ring. Therefore, it wouldn't be surprising if the new expansion turned out to be quite meaty by DLC standards. Shadow of the Erdtree may even be closer to a sequel than a typical expansion.
Elden Ring is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
