Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree sold 5 million units in its first three days of availability, publisher Bandai Namco announced Thursday, an impressive figure that equates to about one-fifth of the original game’s overall fanbase.
Bandai Namco and developer FromSoftware announced in June, nine days ahead of the DLC’s launch, that Elden Ring had sold 25 million copies since its release in February 2022. (It was the bestselling game in the U.S. that year, according to analysts.)
That some 20% of all Elden Ring players have jumped into the notoriously difficult DLC is impressive, especially when you factor in the completion rate of the feats required to even access Shadow of the Erdtree. Two weeks prior to the DLC’s launch, more than half of all Elden Ring players across multiple platforms hadn’t defeated the two bosses — Starscourge Radahn and Mogh, Lord of Blood — required to access the Shadow of the Erdtree map.
Even today, more than 20% of Elden Ring players haven’t accomplished the most basic of feats: reaching the Roundtable Hold, where many of the game’s NPCs reside.
Completion rates for felling Starscourge Radahn and Mogh, Lord of Blood have gone up since then, but, in some cases, only by a fraction of percentage points. It appears that the most dedicated Elden Ring players are the ones continuing into Shadow of the Erdtree, which isn’t much of a surprise. But that stick-to-itiveness hasn’t prevented some players from complaining that the DLC is unfairly hard.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree’s early success only serves to reinforce what FromSoftware has already said: that Elden Ring is a new franchise for the developer that it hopes to “[expand] beyond the realm of games.”
Shadow of the Erdtree is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. If you’re struggling, check out Polygon’s extensive Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree guides to finding the all-important Scadutree Fragments, boss Remembrances, and the weapons, spells, talismans, and armor you’ll need to make the Elden Ring DLC slightly easier.
