Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree reaches 5 million players in its first week

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree Five million copies were sold in the first three days of availability, publisher Bandai Namco announced Thursday, an impressive figure that represents about a fifth of the original game’s total fanbase.

Bandai Namco and developer FromSoftware announced this in June, nine days before the DLC’s launch Elden Ring 25 million copies sold since its release in February 2022. (It was the best-selling game in the US that year, according to analysts.)

That’s about 20% of everything Elden Ring players have jumped into the notoriously difficult DLC is impressive, especially when you consider the achievement completion rate required to even access it Shadow of the Erdtree. Two weeks before the DLC launch, more than half of them all Elden Ring players on multiple platforms had the two bosses – Starscourge Radahn and Mogh, Lord of Blood – needed to access the Shadow of the Erdtree card.

Even today that is still over 20% Elden Ring players have not yet accomplished the most basic feat: reaching the Roundtable Hold, where many of the game’s NPCs reside.

The completion rate for felling Starscourge Radahn and Mogh, Lord of Blood has increased since then, but in some cases only by a fraction of percentage points. It seems that the most devoted Elden Ring players are the ones who move on Shadow of the Erdtree, which isn’t really a surprise. But that persistence hasn’t stopped some players from complaining that the DLC is unfairly difficult.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the ErdtreeFromSoftware’s early success only reinforces what FromSoftware has already said: that Elden Ring is a new franchise for the developer hoping 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 Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree guides to finding the all-important Scadutree fragments, boss memories, and the weapons, spells, talismans, and armor you need to conquer the Old Ring DLC a little easier.