Elden Ring
FromSoftware
Elden Ring has just announced that it’s sold an absolutely incredible 12 million copies in just its first three weeks, numbers that are on a scale we’ve never seen not only from FromSoftware or the Soulsborne genre, but really…nearly any major release in the entire industry, outside of a scarce few.
In the peak of Call of Duty mania with the release of Modern Warfare 3, that game famously sold 10 million copies on day one. But outside of that, Elden Ring is at a level we rarely see.
Usually games may announce when they hit 10 million sales as a milestone, so here’s how long it took other games to hit that mark compared to Elden Ring’s 12 million in three weeks.
The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim – 10 million sales in 1 month
The Division – 10 million “users” in 3 months
GTA IV – 10 million in 3.5 months
Diablo 3 – 10 million sales in 6 months
Borderlands 3 – 10 million sales in 8 months
God of War (2018) – 10 million in 13 months
GTA: Trilogy Remaster – 10 million in 15 months
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild – 10 million in 20 months
Borderlands 2 – 10 million just under 2 years
Resident Evil 7 – 10 million in just under 4 years
In addition to a few Call of Dutys and the original GTA 5, Elden Ring is also just shy of Cyberpunk 2077’s 13.7 million sales in around three weeks in December 2020. But again, we are talking about a very, very small handful of games that have sold this fast, and obviously Elden Ring is simultaneously being extremely well-received by fans and critics alike.
With these kinds of sales, the word “franchise” is already being thrown around in regard to Elden Ring’s future. Of course we got three Dark Souls games, but other titles like Bloodborne and Sekiro never got sequels. Elden Ring sales are on a level far, far beyond any of these, however, and as such, it’s no coincidence that press releases touting these sales say using phrasing like “a fantastic start for the new franchise.” Though given the scope and quality of Elden Ring, we’d be lucky to get a sequel before the end of this recently-launched console generation. It should be noted a plurality of Elden Ring sales have been on PC, which has helped the game find additional success being one of the most-watched games on Twitch and other livestreaming platforms since launch.
In short, only a few games in history have sold this well, this quickly, and practically none have done so reviewing this well. Elden Ring is an all-time great on many fronts, and we’ll see where it goes from here.
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