Elden Ring
While FromSoft games are always beloved by critics and fans, and do end up selling well, Elden Ring has hit new heights that even fans may never have thought possible. We are now talking about Elden Ring sales in Call of Duty terms, as new NPD information has revealed just how well the game has sold since release.
Elden Ring is not only the best-selling game of 2022, besting the likes of Horizon Forbidden West and Dying Light 2, it’s the best-selling game of the entire past 12 months with one exception, Call of Duty: Vanguard, at least in the US.
It’s a monumental achievement for a brand new IP, even one coming from a developer as beloved as FromSoftware. Something about Elden Ring has crossed a line bringing in new players where previously, they may not have played the likes of Dark Souls, Bloodborne or Sekiro. Elden Ring can still be extremely difficult, but feels more approachable than past games, with some comparing it to an upgraded version of the exploration of an Elder Scrolls-type map.
Elden Ring is one of the best-reviewed games of the past decade, its 96 Metascore in truly rarified air that only a select handful of games in history have reached. The prevailing thought is that it is likely the best the best-reviewed game of the year, even if Starfield and God of War Ragnarok do make it out in 2022, and it’s an easy frontrunner for GOTY consideration, where the “official” award will be given out at the Game Awards in December.
Horizon Forbidden West
I feel a tiny bit bad for Horizon Forbidden West, another great, well-reviewed game that became instantly overshadowed by Elden Ring just a week later, when the exact same thing happened with the first game and Breath of the Wild. That said, the NPD numbers show that despite Elden Ring’s overall lead, Horizon Forbidden West is at least the #1 game on PlayStation platforms, where it is an exclusive release. Like Zero Dawn, it seems likely to have long-tail sales that will keep it healthy for probably the entire PS5 generation, and a third game is almost certainly on the way a few years from now.
We have not heard anything about an Elden Ring sequel. Normally would imagine that it would be a sure thing, given this kind of performance, but Hidetaka Miyazaki does his own thing, and every interview I’ve seen from him seems to indicate that making Elden Ring took a whole lot out of him. So no, I’m not sure we can say for sure Elden Ring 2 is on the way at some point, though obviously there are hundreds, if not thousands of hours of playtime to be had in this initial game, given its size and different playthrough styles. We’ll keep an eye on its performance from here.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.