Summary
Elden Ringwas a cultural phenomenon. Changing the formula drastically from its previous release,Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, FromSoftware’s latest title was acritical and commercial behemoth, scoring a95 on OpenCriticand96 on Metacritic.
Bandai Namco, the game’s publisher, recently released the game’s sales figures, showing just how successful it was.The latest data shows the game eclipsed the entireDark Soulsfranchise’s sales figures pre-Elden Ring.
Elden Ring Sells Almost 29 Million Units
It wasrecently confirmedthat, as of September 2024, Elden Ring had sold 28.6 million units.That makes it the 28th best-selling video game of all time— not bad for a game developed by a company thathistoricallymade relatively niche titles.
As of itslatest figures, Elden Ring has now sold more thanSuper Mario Odyssey,Grand Theft Auto: 4andSan Andreas, andPokemon Sword and Shield.
Arguably, what’s most impressive is not the games that it has now outsold from other developers, but the impact that it’s had on the Soulsborne/Soulslike genre.
According to analystDaniel Ahmad, prior to Elden Ring’s release, the Dark Souls franchise, comprised of Dark Souls 1,Dark Souls 2, andDark Souls 3, had sold 27 million units since it launched in 2011. This means that in two and a half years, Elden Ring eclipsed 13 years of franchise sales.
It’s not overly surprising, given the mainstream focus Elden Ring received versus the niche appeal of Dark Souls, but it’s impressive nonetheless.
Interestingly, the Dark Souls franchise has nowreportedly sold over 39 million units, suggesting that Elden Ring has caused a significant uplift in sales to players curious about the genre’s origins.
It was recently confirmed that FromSoftwarewasn’t working on a sequel to Elden Ring, instead focusing ona mixture of other Soulsborne and non-Soulsborne games, sparking fears that the game was a one-and-done scenario. However, at this year’s Game Awards,FromSoftware revealed Elden Ring: Nightreign.Nightreignis a three-player roguelike-style spin-off of Elden Ring, which featuresa Fortnite-style shrinking circleanda bunch of returning Souls bossesand will see players try to survive The Lands Between for three treacherous nights. What a time to be a FromSoft fan.
Elden Ring
WHERE TO PLAY
With worldbuilding from Game of Thrones scribe George R.R. Martin and developed by FromSoftware, Elden Ring is a masterpiece in what has become known as the ‘Soulslike’ genre of action role-playing games.
