Elden Ring's DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, surpasses 5 million tarnished in less than a week

Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree celebratory image for 5 million players.
5 million players for a DLC is astonishing! (Image credit: FromSoftware)

What you need to know

  • Elden Ring is the latest creation by FromSoftware, the makers of Dark Souls, Sekiro, Armored Core, and more.
  • After winning Game of the Year in 2022, Elden Ring's DLC, FromSoftware, created Shadow of the Erdtree, which launched on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and PlayStation.
  • In less than a week, Shadow of the Erdtree has surpassed over 5,000,000 sales.
  • This is despite mixed reviews on Steam due to performance and balancing issues. The later of which was addressed for the first time this week.

Elden Ring is an action roleplaying game that caters to single-player, cooperative, and competitive experiences. While those pure of heart can play offline, playing online allows players to join you in your ventures against the foes and enemies that may cross your path. However, it also leaves you open to invasion from other players who only wish to see you vanquished.

Elden Ring's DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, is currently the greatest expansion ever. At least, according to Metacritic. The follow-up expansion to 2022's Game of the Year winner, Shadow of the Erdtree, is off to a hot start. Not only did our team love it, but it seems everyone else does as well.

In less than a week, Shadow of the Erdtree has surpassed five million sales across platforms. Having just released on June 21, it only took six days for the DLC to reach an estimated $200,000,000 in sales. That's astonishing for an expansion!

I've been treasuring every moment of my time with Shadow of the Erdtree. At the moment, I'm juggling three characters as I progress through the game, having poured over 50 hours into the DLC alone! That doesn't cover my 200 hours in the base game across Steam and Xbox. Needless to say, Shadow of the Erdtree is worthy of its success, there's nobody more deserving!

That success hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows. This weekend, we reported that users on Steam were leaving negative reviews about the difficulty and performance. In response, FromSoftware released a patch that increased the early effects of the Scadutree Fragment, the item responsible for a player's power in the expansion.

Performance is the one thing I wish FromSoftware could fix. I understand it's more than a simple switch flip, but it's been a problem with FromSoftware titles for a while now. While Shadow of the Erdtree seems to suffer its own performance problems on consoles, none of the Souls games released by FromSoftware on PC have been exceptional PC ports.

However, it doesn't seem those problems stopped the hype train! Problems be damned; the Land of the Shadows waits for no player! I know once I've wrapped up for the day, I'll have another friend who's ready to jump into the DLC, and I can't wait to watch him suffer!

What do you think will be the next milestone Shadow of the Erdtree reaches? How are you getting along in the expansion? Let us know below or on social media. To victory, tarnished!

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree | $34.89 at CDKeys (Xbox)

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree | $34.89 at CDKeys (Xbox)

Shadow of the Erdtree is Elden Ring at its most refined, with the base game's overly formulaic elements cut away and some of FromSoftware's best boss fights. The result is a 40-hour-long masterpiece of a DLC that's an absolute must-play for any Soulsborne fan.

Also see: Shadow of the Erdtree (PC, $37.09) | Deluxe Edition (PC, $90.89)

Collector's Edition: Bandai Namco Store (€249.99)

Michael Hoglund
Contributor

Michael has been gaming since he was five when his mother first bought a Super Nintendo from Blockbuster. Having written for a now-defunct website in the past, he's joined Windows Central as a contributor to spreading his 30+ years of love for gaming with everyone he can. His favorites include Red Dead Redemption, all the way to the controversial Dark Souls 2.