Six months after its initial release, developer FromSoftware and developer Bandai Namco posted new record numbers for their latest action RPG adventure masterpiece, Elden Ring. In the latest financial reports for the three months ending June 30, 2022, Elden Ring surpassed 16.6 million units worldwide. With this new figure, Elden Ring has easily cemented itself as the best-selling Souls game, an achievement that spans nearly half of the total sales figures for all games across the franchise, summing more than 27 million copies sold.
Incredibly enough, the last reported sales figure for the game back in mid-May confirmed that Elden Ring was at 13.4 million copies, and for it to have sold more than 3 million in such a short period is evidence of the game’s staying power.
Elden Ring first launched on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam last February 25, 2022. It is the seventh and latest entry to FromSoftware’s portfolio of Souls -likes, a genre popularized by Dark Souls and best known for its dark fantasy nature and often an unforgiving difficulty. That said, Elden Ring is the first game in the series to take place in a massive open world, often encouraging players to discover the world at their leisure and see where their feet take them. Its open world has often been compared to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, a title considered to be an innovator in the space of open-world games.
Elden Ring’s commercial success is easily matched by its level of critical acclaim. Many publications and players alike have named it one of the best games of recent times, and in some cases of all time. It is a culmination of FromSoftware’s own journey with Souls games, with various bits and pieces taken from each game, resulting in what is probably their magnum opus.
The game will most probably be a shoo-in for 2022’s Game of the Year award, but that’s not to say that it will not have competitors. God of War Ragnarok, which launches on November 9, is its closest competitor, and it will be a battle worth watching to see which takes the crown of the best game of the year.
