Can you believe it’s already been over four hundred years since Elden Ring’s Shadow of the Erdtree expansion was announced? And while this year’s Game Awards failed to make the interminable wait any easier with a first trailer or some small morsel of news for fans, we might finally have something resembling a potential release window – courtesy of a retailer leak, by way of an official Bandai Namco partner, pointing to a February 2024 launch for the DLC.
As spotted over on Reddit, details of a new Elden Ring collaboration between publisher Bandai Namco and peripheral manufacturer Thrustmaster – one that’ll apparently see the latter release a series of limited edition controllers themed around the game – were today shared, briefly and presumably mistakenly, by online retailer Datablitz.
Notably, the accompanying promotional material revealed the first batch of controllers would arrive in February next year to “sync with the new Shadow of the Erdtree expansion release”. It’s a launch window that seems highly unlikely at first glance, not least because it’s barely two months from now with no peep of marketing from Bandai Namco – but on the other hand, who’s to say that if I wish for something hard enough I can’t make it happen? Plus, a surprise second anniversary launch would be in keeping with the amusingly understated way the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion was announced in the first place.
However things pan out, the February release window for Shadow of the Erdtree isn’t the only interesting revelation in today’s leak. Thrustmaster’s promotional material – which is almost certainly legit, if not necessary accurate, given someone has spend the day getting mirrors of the document scrubbed from the internet – also highlights two additional controllers themed around Malenia and Ranni. These, according to an accompanying footnote, are intended to be released with a “2025 Elden Ring major key beat or new game expansion”. As giddying as the thought of a second Elden Ring expansion might be, the uncertainty inherent in that “or” suggests this could – if it’s anything at all – be something akin to a complete edition.
So there you go; there is a reality – whether it’s the one we currently inhabit or not remains to be seen – in which Shadow of the Erdtree will be with us in less than ten weeks. Obviously, nothing is official until From or Bandai Namco make it so but what a lovely two-year birthday present that would be. And as for what the almost-certainly Miquella-themed expansion might include, well there’s been plenty of speculation about that already.