Shadow of the Erdtree will be the "first and last" DLC for Elden Ring, according to game director Hidetaka Miyazaki. That's likely to be a big disappointment for Elden Ring fans, who have waited years for more content — but there's a silver lining to this cloud that may mollify players.
News in brief:
- Shadow of the Erdtree will be the first and last Elden Ring DLC
- However, there's plenty of content
- FromSoft will be moving on to other games after it releases
- May be back in the future, but nothing planned
To say that Elden Ring fans have been waiting a while for DLC content is an understatement. Elden Ring has been out for over two years now, and despite being a massive hit, there has been little in the way of extra content for players to butt their heads against. That is, until now; Shadow of the Erdtree is due to arrive on June 20, and it's going to be massive. Unfortunately, it's also going to be the only piece of extra content Elden Ring gets, and will be the "first and last" piece of DLC planned.
This comes from an interview with Miyazaki from Chinese publication Zhihu (via Kotaku). In it, he talks about the DLC, and it seems the DLC's large size is part of the reason why there will only be one DLC. Rather than release parts of the DLC piecemeal, Miyazaki said FromSoft wanted to preserve the feeling of adventure also present in the base game. So rather than a bunch of smaller DLCs, fans will get one massive one. Make sense? So at least you're getting a lot to play through.
It's a slim silver lining, but it's still there. It's hard not to feel a little sad about the lack of a future for Elden Ring. Miyazaki goes on to say the world has been left open for more content in the future, but it's very clear there's nothing planned for it yet, and there's no guarantee it will return. It's hard to see FromSoft never returning to a property this successful and beloved though, so if you're an Elden Ring faithful, keep your fingers crossed.