The Success of the Elden Ring Gamble

Selling more than 12 million units in 17 days, Elden Ring is the biggest success story that developer FromSoftware has ever released. Despite the popularity of the game and their revolutionary Soulsborne formula, however, the title was still seen as somewhat of a dark horse. The type of systems that Elden Ring utilizes are unusual, often being ignored in AAA releases for more established options. This raises some interesting questions about how the industry operates, and what the success of the title could mean in coming years.

A FromSoftware Difference

Ever since the release of Demon Souls and Dark Souls, FromSoftware has been expanding on the same idea of action-RPG combat. Their titles are more challenging than most games, their quests are far less defined, their world-building is far subtler, and this flies in the face of the conventional gaming industry direction.

For the last couple of decades, the biggest games have been series like GTA, Call of Duty, and Battlefield. While impressive in their own rights, the systems these games employ are far more overt. You won’t get lost or wonder what to do in these games, and they sold many millions of copies. The mistake that seemed to have been made here was the belief that correlation equaled causation, and that simplicity was a necessary part of franchise expansion. As a false truism, many of these developers have expressed confusion at FromSoftware’s and Elden Ring’s success.

Placed Within a Medium

As for what made the FromSoftware formula possible, that much is owed to how the video game industry continues to evolve. Tied to culture and technology, evolution occurs in every type of media, but these tend to be more restrained than they are in the video game space.

Take movies as an example. Though some movies break the mold and set new standards, the century-old industry is still settled in many ways. The formulas are understood, the box office remains fairly predictable, and so there’s not a lot of confusion over what’s going to hit it big.

In the interactive space, the same could be said for betting experiences. Gambling houses, which mainly rose in Western Europe, can be increasingly found within the digital world, while still honoring the ideas and approaches from previous times. Swiss online casinos, as an illustration of this concept, offer games that share foundations that can date back hundreds of years. While there still exists smaller variation, titles from renowned providers tend to rely on bonus offers like deposit matches and free spins to gain player attention.

With video games like Elden Ring, the large-scale and interactive nature gives infinitely more possibilities for exploration and expansion on established norms. While this means, that some titles that swing for the fences will miss entirely, it also guarantees a few solid connections that knock the ball out of the park. This was Elden Ring exactly, as a combination of FromSoftware’s previous experience and predictions of future industry direction.

Soulsborne games have already generated a slew of imitators, from the great to the mediocre. With Elden Ring upping the ante and leading with so many gameplay innovations, this pattern will inevitably repeat. The only question is how many doppelgangers will offer surface-level interpretations, and how many will do the formula justice? At any rate, the size and complexity of this game world mean followers will be a couple of years away yet.