It’s Elden Ring’s first birthday soon and there’re signs that Bandai Namco and From Software are getting ready for… something.
Smash hit Elden Ring will be exactly one year old on February 25 and it’s beginning to look like that could be the venue for a DLC announcement. At the very least we know that both publisher Bandai Namco and developer FromSoftware are going to acknowledge the date, although, as is typical for the game, it’s not quite that simple.
Bandai Namco as a whole has said nothing, but their Nordic division has advertised a 1 Year Anniversary Community Celebration in Stockholm, including a live show and Twitch livestream.
Curiously though, no other part of Bandai Namco has said anything about it, so either the Nordic team has jumped the gun or this is just a local thing they’ve organised off their own backs.
At the moment it’s impossible to guess which it is, but for the first time in months FromSoftware have updated their Instagram page. It’s just a pre-existing piece of artwork, of deathbed companion Fia, and there’s no message but, predictably, all the comments from fans are about the possibility of DLC.
It’s certainly peculiar that there’s been no mention of DLC up to this point, given almost all of From’s previous games have had at least one expansion. And yet the only thing there’s ever been for Elden Ring is a small, free PvP update.
At The Game Awards in December, where Eldin Ring won Game of the Year, director Hidetaka Miyazaki said there were, ‘Several more things we want to do’ with Elden Ring, which was widely taken as a hint that DLC is planned.
That was never confirmed though and the only other thing Miyazaki said was that he wants to ‘create even more interesting games’ in the future.
As you can see, it’s not much to go on, but fans on Reddit have noticed that the playtest branch for the game on Steam has recently been updated, which also happened just before the release of the PvP update.
That could mean that something is planned for the anniversary but that it’s only another small update. At this point, though, it’s not clear what’s going on – other than an official announcement seems long overdue.
ð SAVE THE DATE! ð
Welcome to our #ELDENRING 1 year anniversary celebration in Stockholm. ð
On the 25th of February, we invite you all to celebrate with us at Red Bull Gaming Sphere in Stockholm.
The event will also be live streamed on Twitch.
More info coming (very) soon! pic.twitter.com/H2NsKUKTyy— BANDAI NAMCO NORDICS (@BandaiNamcoNO) February 1, 2023
