The Game Awards in 2022 bestowed its Game of the Year trophy toElden Ring, FromSoftware’s latest foray into the Soulslike genre, and this victory seems to have had a ripple effect on its Steam sales. As much as this year has been good for video games with releases such asHorizon Forbidden West, the award for many came down to one of two games in 2022:God of War RagnarokorElden Ring. As these powerhouse titles swept several categories, the ultimate prize ended up going to the open world Soulslike that took the gaming world by storm in February 2022.
FromSoftware’s direction withElden Ringcarried a lot of risk as it tried to combine its unorthodox take on the open world with a genre that was seemingly at its best as a dungeon crawler. Needless to say, the results have been tremendous asElden Ringbroke sales records six months after launchand established itself as one of the best-selling Japanese games on the global market. Though many would agree thatGod of War Ragnarokwas an exquisite experience on its own that enjoyed comparable commercial success, The Game Awards ultimately sawElden Ringas the title that defined 2022.
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In the days that followed,Elden Ringclimbed the Steam sales chartonce again, moving up twenty-nine spots to 14th place on Steam’s current top sellers list. While the video shared by Ayo Az on TikTok is a bit cheeky towardsGod of War Ragnarokfans, it would seem that 2018’sGod of Wardropped forty-two spots all the way to 49th place on the same chart. Given thatGod of War Ragnarokremains a PlayStation exclusive, this comparison feels a bit disingenuous at first glance and argued in bad faith.
It can be safe to assume thatGod of War’s numbers drastically rose with the release of its sequel in November, and it can similarly be assumed thatGod of War: Ragnarokwill get a similar boost if it ultimately releases on PC. WhileElden Ring’s current surge in copies sold can be attributed to the accoladesElden Ringrightfully earned,God of War’s plummet from the top of the chart is likely the result of players buying the game last month, and now moving onto new titles for December.
AsElden Ringcontinues to enjoy success, FromSoftware isn’t quite ready to move on from The Lands Between, asElden Ring’s director wants to do more thingswith the game. Whether Miyazaki has confirmed that DLC is on the way forElden Ring, or if FromSoftware is mulling over the potential of an unlikelyElden Ringsequel remains to be seen, but fans of this IP surely have a lot to be excited about.
Elden Ringis available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
