Elden Ring 2 development is already underway, according to comments from one prominent game journalist and industry insider.
Word of an Elden Ring sequel being in the works comes from former GameInformer senior editor and current Fanbyte news editor Imran Khan, who responded to a recent interview with FromSoftware creative director Hidetaka Miyazaki (via Japanese site 4Gamer (opens in new tab)). During this, Miyazaki confirmed that an unannounced project is now in the final stages of development, while Elden Ring itself will receive more updates in the future.
In response to the wide speculation as to whether Elden Ring 2 will happen, Khan noted that FromSoftware is "definitely already working on it" and said that publisher Bandai Namco signed a "multi-game deal" with development believed to have started before the first game ended.
T3 has reached out to Bandai Namco for comment.
- Presumably Armored Core- Presumably Elden Ring 2, work in the next game started before the first game finished- Stop nerfing shit Miyazaki https://t.co/vqD7HLdybZJune 24, 2022
They signed a multi game deal with BN. It may take a while to actually come out but they’re definitely already working on it.June 24, 2022
"Presumably Elden Ring 2, work in the next game started before the first game finished," said Khan (via Twitter (opens in new tab)). Then in response to a commenter suggesting it's a decade too early for an Elden Ring sequel, he said: "They signed a multi-game deal with BN. It may take a while to actually come out but they’re definitely already working on it".
Elden Ring launched in February 2022, going on to surpass more than 12 million sales globally in three weeks alone and becoming one of the highest-rated video games of all time. In May, Bandai Namco confirmed the game has shifted more than 13.4 million units. A follow-up, naturally, makes sense from a business perspective, yet FromSoftware is not known for its direct sequels outside of the Dark Souls series.
During the 4Gamer (opens in new tab) interview, Miyazaki addressed the studio's stance on whether to add a "2" and take advantage of a game's name value like Dark Soul: "That is a case-by-case basis. There are merits to both taking over the numbering and creating a new work with a new title, so I would like to select as appropriate," he said (via Google Translate)
Alongside this, developer FromSoftware posted a number of job vacancies (opens in new tab) for "multiple new projects" earlier today. One rumour is that Armored Core 6 (opens in new tab) is the next game set to be released from the studio. So clearly it's working on something, it just might be quite a while before we hear anything concrete on Elden Ring 2.
Elden Ring is available to play across PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC. Read T3's Elden Ring review to see what all the fuss is about.
