Bandai Namco says some obscure action-RPG called Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree "was a hit" that made a ton of money

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree final boss Radahn stares into the camera, holding a sword in each hand.
(Image credit: FromSoftware)

Hold onto your seats, folks, Elden Ring's universally acclaimed Shadow of the Erdtree DLC that everybody has been raving about for weeks sold really well.

As revealed in Elden Ring publisher Bandai Namco's first quarter financial results, Shadow of the Erdtree boosted the company's digital operating profit in its entertainment sector by 553% year-over-year, enough to prompt this ecstatic, over-the-top reaction in the document: "On the business side, Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree, the major downloadable content of the home console game Elden Ring, was a hit, contributing to the operating results in the Digital Business."

Elsewhere in the results summary, Bandai Namco showed a 24.8% increase in net sales and a 56.3% rise in profit for the three months that ended on June 30, 2024. It's no coincidence that Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree released about a week prior on June 21.

Of course, none of this is a surprise. Shadow of the Erdtree was an instant success at launch, beating giant full-game releases like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth in ratings and selling five million units in its first three days. The DLC's success rivals some of the biggest DLC releases of all time, including Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty and The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine. As soon as it became the highest rated DLC for an RPG ever, CDPR even congratulated Bandai Namco with some awesome custom art of Geralt in Elden Ring.

In a different type of numbers game, this Elden Ring sicko takes the limiters off NG+ scaling, cranks Shadow of the Erdtree to NG+ 1,000 and still no-hits a 500,000-HP Messmer.

Jordan Gerblick

After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer, I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.

Read more
Elden Ring
Elden Ring is officially FromSoftware's most popular game — it outsold the developer's entire Dark Souls series by 2 million copies
Elden Ring
Dark Souls and Elden Ring owner says Shadow of the Erdtree boosted revenue, and plans to expand its gaming division thanks to investment from Sony
Elden Ring Nightreign
Elden Ring Nightreign collector's edition revealed: $200 gets you 24 centimeters of hero and a proper artbook, or drop $190 for another fancy helmet
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree final boss Radahn stares into the camera, holding a sword in each hand.
After 423 hours and over 15,000 total deaths, Elden Ring player finally beats Shadow of the Erdtree without the upgrades FromSoftware urged everyone to use: "Never give up"
An Elden Ring character standing in front of a fire in Shadow of the Erdtree
How Elden Ring's Shadow of the Erdtree DLC got me through my darkest days
Elden Ring Nightreign
Elden Ring Nightreign launches this May, costs $40, and already has DLC cooking
Latest in Action Rpg
No Rest for the Wicked
Ori and the Blind Forest developer is now "fully independent" after "months of negotiation" with what remained of its gutted publisher
Monster Hunter Wilds
Monster Hunter Wilds dev says the game's success is thanks to an "emphasis on the story," but I think that's only a tiny aspect of it
A Monster Hunter Wilds character holding binoculars.
Despite Monster Hunter Wilds suffering monstrous performance problems on PC, it still outsold the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions in the US
Skyrim
It took Skyrim players nearly 15 years to discover ingenious loot hack that completely changes the game and, uh, requires you to desecrate a couple corpses
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree final boss Radahn stares into the camera, holding a sword in each hand.
After 423 hours and over 15,000 total deaths, Elden Ring player finally beats Shadow of the Erdtree without the upgrades FromSoftware urged everyone to use: "Never give up"
Monster Hunter Wilds trailer screenshot showing a young woman with long blonde hair tied back into a ponytail smiling slightly, pumping her left fist in the air
Monster Hunter Wilds' Gemma actor requests "tips for beginners" from fans of Capcom's action RPG as it's the "first MH game that I've ever played"
Latest in News
Death Stranding 2
Hideo Kojima says Death Stranding's themes of connection came about because "I thought I lost everything when I became alone nine years ago"
Death Stranding 2 kiss
Hideo Kojima says "it was very difficult to direct" Death Stranding 2's big kiss scene, but Norman Reedus thinks "it was niiice" locking lips with Léa Seydoux
ben starr dressed in harlequin makeup chomping down on a banana
Balatro creator says it's "useless" for him to give advice to other devs because "I only have one data point" and it was a 5 million-sale success story
George R.R. Martin
Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin has a new update on The Winds of Winter: "I wish it would come faster"
Baldur's Gate 3 screenshot showing Astarion, a pale male elf with short curly white hair and red eyes, looking over his shoulder with a smirk on his face
Baldur's Gate 3 Astarion actor comes face to face with what might just be the best merch to come of the RPG yet – a 5-foot Funko Pop figure of his character
Drop
New horror movie starring White Lotus and Yellowstone actors gets a great Rotten Tomatoes score as early reactions call it the "perfect date night movie"