Even though Shadow of the Erdtree only arrived in June, the beast still hungers. The beast is us, and we're hungering for more Elden Ring. During the PlayStation Partner Awards in Japan, as reported by IGN Japan, director Hidetaka Miyazaki unsurprisingly found himself fielding questions about the possibility of more Elden Ring—though we already knew Shadow of the Erdtree would be its only expansion. But what about a sequel?
There are no prizes for guessing that he wouldn't just drop a big sequel announcement off-the-cuff at an awards show. "We don't have any particular plans to develop Elden Ring 2," Miyazaki said. But there's a big gulf between not having any specific plans and saying it will categorically never happen.
FromSoftware didn't want to dilute the story of Elden Ring by releasing it piecemeal through multiple expansions, but that doesn't preclude the studio from telling new stories within that setting. Which is good news, because it's a killer setting. Indeed, Miyazaki went on to clarify that his answer was not meant to imply that Elden Ring has reached the end of the line. It could still have a future.
"I want to convey that we are not denying the possibility of developing the Elden Ring IP in some form in the future,” he said. Pretty vague! Technically, "developing the IP" doesn't even mean a videogame. Previously, Miyazaki has discussed how Elden Ring could be adapted into a movie or TV show, as long FromSoftware found a "strong partner".
To be honest, I don't think I'm all that down for a big or small screen adaptation—Elden Ring's approach to storytelling is not one I think would translate particularly well, and it only works as brilliantly as it does because of the exceptional videogame it inhabits. Just watching a bunch of weirdos spouting vague gibberish for a couple of hours? Well, I can do that in the pub.
With that in mind, I'm hoping for a new Elden Ring game, eventually. Though likely not for a while—even though FromSoftware knocked out Shadow of the Erdtree exceptionally quickly.
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