Elden Ring Sells 20 Million Copies, Makes Excellent Point
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Luke Plunkett
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Image: Elden Ring
It was announced earlier today that Elden Ring, FromSoftware’s 2022 Game Of The Year For Loads Of People (including most staff at this website), has sold 20 million copies worldwide since its release a year ago. That is a lot.
You may be wondering, why am I pointing this out on Kotaku, a website that in 2023 generally couldn’t give half a shit about sales boasts/figures, especially when they come packaged in a press release from the publisher?
It’s because I think Elden Ring, a tough-as-nails action/RPG that’s basically a singleplayer experience, is making one hell of a point going out and selling 20 million copies in 2022-23. It’s showing publishers, and the people who control their purse strings, that not every video game released in the modern age has to be a Forever Game, a live service timesink that not only demands our constant attention, but is constantly asking for money while it’s doing it.
You buy Elden Ring, you play Elden Ring, you rinse Elden Ring and then you’re done with it! There are no DLC packs, no season passes, no multiplayer modes selling skins for $2. What you paid for is what you got. For many people raised on less exploitative games, or tired of modern gaming’s demands (or both!), Elden Ring was, conceptually, a near-perfect video game experience.
I know it’s far from alone. It’s not like every game ever released these days is a live service drain. Indeed that GOTY list I linked to above is dominated by standalone, singleplayer experiences.
But none of them have sold 20 million copies. That’s what makes Elden Ring’s sales so important.
They don’t just show a traditional video game can do well, they show it can be an absolute blockbuster. While nailing down specific sales figures in these days of digital shopfronts can be hard, 20 million puts the game in the same ballpark as Modern Warfare 2 and EA’s FIFA series, an extraordinary achievement for a game that’s hard as hell and enjoyed a fraction of the promotional budget those juggernauts—both full-priced retail games which then try and fleece players for even more money down the road—received.
Know what else is in that sales ballpark? Cyberpunk 2077—which, OK, had its problems and also an astronomical marketing budget—sold over 20 million copies. God of War Ragnarok, another very singleplayer experience released in 2022, has sold over 10 million copies itself (to Sony’s credit much of their first-party strategy, from Horizon to The Last Of Us, walks a similar path). Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, the first singleplayer Star Wars game in a very long time? Oh hey, it also sold over 10 million, doing more than well enough to justify a big-budget sequel that’s out very soon.
These huge sales figures aren’t just success stories for the companies involved, but also a sign to other publishers that maybe the people buying and playing games are getting tired of this obsession with fleecing us at every turn, and of stripping the heart out of games in a desperate attempt to prologue our time spent with them. I get that companies know a live service game can potentially make more money than a regular one—look at FIFA, which has made billions off digital card sales on top of its retail profits—but it’s not guaranteed. Not every game has to do this. We don’t have the time or money for it.
Sometimes people just want to play a video game, finish it, enjoy it for what it was and then get on with their lives. And those people are showing there are enough of them out there to not just buy a few million copies of those games, but turn them into absolute blockbusters.
Based on Dark Souls’ DLC history, here’s when we think Elden Ring will get an expansion
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(Image credit: Tyler C. / FromSoftware)
There was no other videogame like Elden Ring in 2022. And I don’t mean that as a breathless compliment, even if Elden Ring was our game of the year. I mean it literally. No other videogame that sold 20 million copies in 2022 ventured out with no battle pass or DLC season pass, no premium cosmetics, no level boosts—not a single way to milk those 18 million players for just a few more bucks when they craved more Elden Ring. That’s just not how big budget videogames work anymore. Even Nintendo wants you to buy an Amiibo to unlock extra stuff in this summer’s The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
After a flurry of post-launch balance and bug fixes in March and April, FromSoftware spent most of 2022 quiet, occasionally popping up with another small Elden Ring update and a glaring lack of news about anything more substantial. December 7’s free Colosseum DLC, focused on multiplayer, was the kind of snack that’ll just make most Elden Ring players want a full meal.
We are hungry, and we want to know when we’ll get to eat again.
FromSoftware isn’t talking. Maybe Elden Ring’s one-year anniversary this weekend will be the impetus for the studio to finally announce an expansion (or three, if we’re dreaming). Maybe not. We can’t look to other 2022 games for an idea of when to expect Elden Ring DLC, but what about FromSoftware’s own games? Their DLC history may prove a bit more informative.
Demon’s Souls
First released: February 5, 2009
FromSoftware didn’t make DLC for Demon’s Souls, instead focusing on development of Dark Souls, which it released two and a half years later. Demon’s Souls was a bit of a sleeper hit, taking until 2011 to sell a million copies. By the time it would’ve made sense for FromSoftware to think about DLC, Dark Souls was already well underway. Its sales would end up eclipsing Demon’s Souls’ almost immediately.
Dark Souls
(Image credit: Bandai Namco, FromSoftware)
First released: September 22, 2011
Days until DLC announcement: 202
Swipe to scroll horizontally
| Expansion | Announced | Released | Days to DLC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artorias of the Abyss | April 11, 2012 | October 23, 2012 | 397 |
The first bit of DLC in the Souls series, and perhaps still the biggest.
Artorias of the Abyss transports you back in time 100 years to face the knight whose name looms large over all of Dark Souls. It’s a dramatic showdown, and also one of the first Souls battles to pit you up against a more human-sized, fast-moving character, foreshadowing the faster-paced combat of Dark Souls 3. According to a 2012 interview, Artorias of the Abyss only came about because of the PC port.
«Conceptually we never had considered doing any downloadable content,» producer Daisuke Uchiyama said. «…it was all decided and discussed after we had released the console version due to the online petition for the PC version.»
Faster DLC turnarounds for the sequels suggest they were planned while the games were still in development.
Dark Souls 2
(Image credit: Bandai Namco)
First released: March 11, 2014
Days until DLC announcement: 85
Swipe to scroll horizontally
| Expansion | Announced | Released | Days to DLC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crown of the Sunken King | June 4, 2014 | July 22, 2014 | 133 |
| Crown of the Old Iron King | June 4, 2014 | August 26, 2014 | 168 |
| Crown of the Ivory King | June 4, 2014 | September 29, 2014 | 202 |
FromSoftware’s most expansive set of DLC was also the quickest to arrive.
Season passes were in vogue when Dark Souls 2 came out, and the sequel definitely had a bit of a «bigger is better» philosophy behind it in both design and Bandai Namco’s marketing and post-launch plans. In January 2014, producer Takeshi Miyazoe said there was «definitely potential» for DLC, but based on Crown of the Sunken King’s speedy release, my guess is that it was already in development, or at least planning, before Dark Souls 2 released.
Each of these expansions added a self-contained area to Dark Souls 2 that took about five hours to work through. FromSoftware’s essentially used the same blueprint for all of its expansions, which may not be as neat a fit for Elden Ring’s open world. Perhaps that’s why it’s taken so much longer to arrive.
Bloodborne
(Image credit: FromSoftware)
First released: March 24, 2015
Days until DLC announcement: 175
Swipe to scroll horizontally
| Expansion | Announced | Released | Days to DLC |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Old Hunters | September 15, 2015 | November 24, 2015 | 245 |
Bloodborne was published by and co-developed with Sony, but the design of The Old Hunters follows the FromSoftware blueprint.
New standalone area. A chunky eight or so hours to play through. Sony held back the announcement longer than Bandai Namco did with either of the Dark Souls sequels, but otherwise it seems standard. Not much to learn here, other than FromSoftware’s consistency.
Dark Souls 3
(Image credit: Bandai-Namco)
First released: March 24, 2016
Days until DLC announcement: -37
Swipe to scroll horizontally
| Expansion | Announced | Released | Days to DLC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ashes of Ariandel | February 16, 2016 | October 24, 2016 | 214 |
| The Ringed City | February 16, 2016 | March 28, 2017 | 369 |
While the details of Dark Souls 3’s expansions didn’t come until much later, publisher Bandai Namco announced plans for a season pass about five weeks before the RPG released.
To date it’s the first and only time a FromSoftware game has had DLC announced in advance. While Ashes of Ariandel is roughly the same size as a Dark Souls 2 expansion, The Ringed City is longer, capping off the Dark Souls trilogy with a True Final Boss showdown.
The Ringed City is the one Souls expansion that makes me optimistic about an imminent expansion for Elden Ring. It arrived more than a year after the initial release, pointing to a lengthy development period. More importantly, it was bundled up into a Game of the Year edition of Dark Souls 3 on April 21, 2023, just a month later. That’s a playbook that could easily be replicated with Elden Ring—considering how many GOTY awards it won, it’s hard to imagine Bandai Namco not going for the easy money of a re-release with some new goodies.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
(Image credit: From Software)
First released: March 22, 2019
Days until DLC announcement: 495 days
Swipe to scroll horizontally
| Update | Announced | Released | Days to DLC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sekiro Free Update | July 29, 2020 | October 29, 2020 | 587 days |
If there’s any promising data here, it’s the gap between the release of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice and its free update, which added a boss rush mode, some new outfits and a light online feature that let you record a ghost of your shinobi for other players to watch.
It would be disappointing if Elden Ring’s final update were equally lightweight, but it shows how long FromSoftware will commit to a game.
Sekiro broke from the tradition of FromSoftware’s RPGs, with no proper expansion added to its campaign. But that makes a lot of sense if you’ve played Sekiro, which is a more linear and delicately balanced action game, not as conducive to having a new area bolted on as an exploration-driven RPG. Another possible explanation: Sekiro was being developed concurrently with Elden Ring, and this update added in features that FromSoftware had intended for release but cut for time.
So… Elden Ring DLC when?
(Image credit: From Software)
Unless FromSoftware surprise drops a completed Elden Ring expansion the same day it announces it, we’re likely to sail past The Ringed City’s 369 day schedule. My optimistic guess is that Elden Ring will get an expansion at least double the size and scope of what FromSoftware did for any of the Souls games, adding a whole area to the world map of The Lands Between and a new legacy dungeon within it.
But there’s actually a perfect setup for a more self-contained Elden Ring expansion waiting in the lore.
The common speculation for Elden Ring DLC is that it’ll focus on Miquella, Malenia’s twin brother, whose story is touched on throughout Elden Ring but never fully explored. Miquella can be seen slumbering in his cocoon in the chamber of boss Mohg, Lord of Blood. Miquella could either awaken, transforming The Lands Between in some way or granting access to a new area—or a DLC could take place in his dream, freeing FromSoftware from having to integrate the expansion into the existing world map. The game even had a dream-related mechanic cut during development.
Would that dream take us into the past, before the fall of the demigods? Or tell a wholly separate story? I hope we find out on Elden Ring’s anniversary. The timing for a DLC release this spring just fits too well. Bandai Namco’s got to be itching to release that GOTY edition soon, right?
There’s still the possibility that no expansion is coming, and any future updates FromSoftware releases will be smaller additions.
But the studio definitely isn’t completely finished with Elden Ring just yet. The last updates to its development branches, according to SteamDB, came just days ago. Something’s definitely cooking—hopefully it’s enough to wake Miquella and get us back into The Lands Between.
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Wes has been covering games and hardware for more than 10 years, first at tech sites like The Wirecutter and Tested before joining the PC Gamer team in 2014. Wes plays a little bit of everything, but he’ll always jump at the chance to cover emulation and Japanese games.
When he’s not obsessively optimizing and re-optimizing a tangle of conveyor belts in Satisfactory (it’s really becoming a problem), he’s probably playing a 20-year-old Final Fantasy or some opaque ASCII roguelike.
With a focus on writing and editing features, he seeks out personal stories and in-depth histories from the corners of PC gaming and its niche communities. 50% pizza by volume (deep dish, to be specific).
Old New Year: the essence of the holiday, history and traditions
. The name Old New Year seems absurd, but there is an explanation for this.
Old New Year puts the final chord in a series of festivities in early January. This is an informal holiday, which today is celebrated at will. However, a few centuries ago this day was an important milestone in the culture of many peoples, and for some it has remained so until now. The traditions and signs of the Old New Year largely repeat those that are observed when celebrating the New Year on the night of January 1st. But there are quite rare and exotic among them.
Contents
- What is it
- History
- Traditions
- Signs
- How to celebrate
What is Old New Year
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The tradition of celebrating the New Year twice exists in many countries around the world
Old New Year is a holiday celebrated on the night of January 13-14.
Like the first of January, it marks the beginning of the new year, and the prefix «old» is not accidental. This is a direct reference to the Julian calendar, which gave way to the modern chronology — the Gregorian. Thus, the Old New Year is the one that comes according to the old style.
Another name for it is Orthodox or Orthodox New Year. This is again connected with the Julian calendar, on which the Eastern Church still relies. That is why Orthodox Christians have Christmas on January 7, and not on December 25. As a result, for many believing Christians, the generally accepted first of January is a formality, unlike the fourteenth.
According to old Russian traditions, on this day the countdown of the new agricultural year began, and the memory of the patron saint of farmers, Basil the Great, was also honored. The evening before was called «generous.» At home, they set the table and prepared treats that were sure to be shared with others, it was also considered a good omen to get hired on this day.
Today, the Old New Year is an unofficial, but still beloved holiday by many. Unlike the first of January, it is not celebrated on a grand scale, but this is a great time to visit your parents, spend an evening with your family, or think of something that you did not have time to wish yourself and your loved ones on the main New Year.
History of the Old New Year
In Russia, the history of the Old New Year began after the revolution. Before it, the Julian calendar was used in our country, but at 19In the year 18, the Bolsheviks decided to switch to the Gregorian style, according to which most of the countries of Europe already lived by this time.
In the West, a new chronology was introduced in the 16th century during the calendar reform by Pope Gregory XIII in order to correct a “mistake” in the Julian system. The fact is that in the old calendar, the time between the spring equinoxes was 11 minutes longer than it really is. By the time Russia switched to the Gregorian calendar, it had already increased by 13 days.
It so happened that January 1, according to the old style, began to correspond to January 14, according to the new one.
The Orthodox Church did not support the change of Soviet power and continued to rely on the Julian calendar. Therefore, at the time of the generally accepted celebration of the New Year on January 1 in Orthodoxy, there is a time of fasting before Christmas.
Traditions of the Old New Year
Russia is not the only country where the New Year is celebrated twice. This tradition has been preserved in many former Soviet republics, in the countries of Eastern Europe where Orthodoxy is practiced, as well as among the peoples who still count time according to the Julian calendar. The original and ancient customs of celebrating the New Year in the old style have come down to our days in some cultures, here are some of them.
Vevčani Carnival
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Every year the festival in Macedonia dedicated to the Old New Year attracts hundreds of tourists
Carnival takes place annually on January 13th and 14th in the village of Vevcani in Macedonia.
This is one of the oldest rituals in the Balkans, which is dedicated to seeing off and meeting the New Year in the Julian style. The cultural event combines not only ancient pagan rituals, but also celebrations in honor of St. Basil the Great. The holiday is noisy and bright. Villagers dress up in costumes and masks imitating mythical characters and perform traditional music. Participants of the event who do not have tools simply rattle with any means at hand: bells, pots, pans and buckets. According to beliefs, all this allows you to drive away evil spirits and attract good luck in the new year [1].
Carol Tsars
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There is a belief that in the house visited by the «kings» there will be prosperity and wealth throughout the year
This is the name of the festive event, which is held annually on the Old New Year in the village of Semezhevo in Belarus. According to tradition, men participate in the ceremony — “carol kings”. Everyone has their own role: healer, soldier, musician, etc.
They visit the homes of predominantly unmarried girls to receive well wishes and rewards. The procession lasts all night under the light of torches. In 2009In 2010, this ancient ritual of celebrating the New Year according to the Julian calendar was included in the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage [2].
Yenneier Holiday
Vermondo/wikipedia.org
Berber calendar
Yennayer is the first month of the new year in the Berber calendar. Its first day corresponds to the first day of January in the Julian calendar (January 14 in the Gregorian). Celebrations begin in advance, January 12, and last three days. The Berbers celebrate Yennayer in Morocco, Libya, Tunisia and parts of Egypt. In Algeria, this day is recognized as a national holiday [3].
The Yennayer celebration is accompanied by traditional food, music and dancing. The central place on the table is occupied by couscous, in which a date or almond bone is placed in advance. The person who gets it is considered «blessed» throughout the year.
It is also customary to share treats with the poor on this day. For this, a festive ration and a spoon are left on the street.
Celebrations Mali Bozic
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Serbia is one of the few countries in the post-Soviet space where the Old New Year is celebrated on a grand scale — fireworks are thundering in the streets, and people are walking all night
Mali Bozic — translated from Serbian means little Christmas. Since the Old New Year according to the new style comes a week after the Orthodox Christmas, some of the rituals are repeated on this day. For example, carols and the burning of the remnants of the Yule tree (analogous to the modern Christmas tree).
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One of the Serbian traditions for the Old New Year is the preparation of ritual sweet bread. It is intended for the first meal of the new year so that the coming 12 months will be just as sweet. Small balls of dough are sometimes put into the center of the bread — one for each family member [4].
Signs for the Old New Year
Like the main New Year, the old one also has its own signs. For the most part, they differ little from what is customary to do on the night of January 1, but there are still some features. Here are some of them.
- The well-known saying “the way you celebrate the New Year is the way you will spend it” is relevant for this day as well. Therefore, on the night of the meeting of the Old New Year, it is also customary to set the table, wear beautiful clothes and be in a good mood. Pork dishes are especially held in high esteem, since Basil the Great, revered by Orthodox Christians, patronized not only farmers, but pig breeders.
- On the eve of the holiday, the house is put in order, but not on the day of the celebration itself — otherwise you can “sweep away” luck along with the garbage. Also on this day, you should not lend or borrow money.
- It is better for women who are waiting for marriage to celebrate the holiday in a company where there are men.
It is believed that in this way the girl will be able to avoid loneliness in the coming year. - An interesting addition to the holiday on January 14 may be the ancient tradition of preparing treats with «surprises». To do this, one of the items (safe), symbolizing certain events, is placed in the filling. For example, a bean means an addition to the family, a thread means a road and travel, and a coin means prosperity and well-being.
- Since the Old New Year in ancient times was inextricably linked with the beginning of a new agricultural period, special attention was paid to weather signs. For example, a clear and starry night promised a rich harvest, and the south wind — a hot and good year.
How to celebrate the Old New Year
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The main condition for a proper meeting of the Old New Year is a good mood
In modern Russian culture, the Old New Year completes a series of traditional winter holidays, including the main New Year and Christmas.
This day does not apply to official holidays, and if it falls on a weekday, then it is a working day.
As a rule, celebrations, like the first of January, are not arranged on the night of January 13-14. Nevertheless, the tradition of laying the table and spending the outgoing year is preserved in many families. In the evening, you can again raise a glass, and at midnight make a wish.
After the meeting of the Old New Year, the period of winter holidays unofficially ends. As a rule, after January 14 in Russian houses they begin to remove decorations and dismantle Christmas trees.
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Weather in Stary Oskol for 3 days, weather forecast Stary Oskol for the next 3 days, Stary Oskol city district, Belgorod region, Russia.
GISMETEO: Weather in Stary Oskol for 3 days, weather forecast for Stary Oskol for the next 3 days, Stary Oskol city district, Belgorod Oblast, Russia.
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evening −139
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7-12 25-43
7-12 25-43
7-12 25-43
6-10 22-36
6-13 22-47
7-12 25-43
7-12 25-43
3-7 11-25
6-10 22-36
5-9 18-32
3-7 11-25
3-5 11-18
8 14-29
2-6 7-22
1-2 4-7
2-3 7-11
4-6 14-22
3-5 11-18
3-5 11-18
-25
4-9 14-32
5-11 18-40
2-97-32
4-7 14-25
5-9 18-32
7-13 25-47
7-15 25-54
7-16 25-58
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61
5-17 18-61
6-16 22-58
4-14 14-50
3-8 11-29
3-7 11-25
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