Putting Elden Ring’s 12 million sales in context

Enlarge / The lord of all he surveys... in terms of sales, that is. (credit: FromSoftware)

If you've even talked to someone who plays a lot of video games lately, you shouldn't be surprised that Elden Ring—with its combination of open-world exploration and punishing Souls-like difficulty—is a huge hit. Still, we were taken aback when developer FromSoftware announced last night just how big of a hit the new IP has been already: 12 million worldwide sales as of March 14, just 17 days after the game launched.

That's obviously a huge number, and FromSoftware is already promising to expand the new franchise "beyond the realm of games." But just how big is 12 million sales for a game like Elden Ring? And what does it mean for a company that's been slowly building up a dedicated audience for its Souls-like games for over a decade now?

We crunched the numbers to put those 12 million sales into context, as you can see in the graphs below. The comparisons make clear that Elden Ring is more than just a massive hit for FromSoftware. Elden Ring is already one of the most popular open-world games in recent memory.

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