Elden Ring was never promoted as a service game, nor has any DLC been officially announced. Mentioning either of those things gets many members of the community talking, and that’s exactly what happened on the popular gaming forum ResetEra.
Forum member Heliex created a poll with the title “Do you think Elden Ring’s popularity could help it evolve into a [service game]?” A minute percentage of voters say yes, while nearly half of them want a handful of DLC expansions. A little less than a quarter want a full-on Elden Ring 2, and roughly the same amount want Elden Ring to be a one-and-done game, not a franchise of any kind. Putting the debate of DLC versus games-as-a-service aside, just mentioning these options has started a heated discussion on the forum. Heliex expected as much, according to the first line of their post.
One of the first responses from Freezasaurus conveys the frustration many feel with the service mentality. “This [games-as-a-service] trash needs to stop,” they say. “I don’t want every game I play to turn into some big-time investment I keep needing to return to.” Khanimus is pretty direct with their take. “F*** the idea of [games-as-a-service] being grafted on to Elden Ring,” they say. “No thanks.”
Many responders simply want to see additional content like previous FromSoftware games received. “Just give me some improvements when/if the DLC drops, just like the Dark Souls games and Bloodborne,” says SirKai. Others are fine with smaller additions to evolve the game piece by piece. “I like the idea of free updates adding NPC quests and other new elements to keep people returning to the world,” says Neiteio. “Sounds fine to me.” That’s more in line with the games-as-a-service mentality.
Elden Ring certainly has potential for DLC. The locked Limgrave coliseum comes to mind, as it could be turned into a future PvP arena. For now, however, FromSoftware is within its rights to enjoy the success of the game as is. It sold 12 million copies in under a month, after all.
