Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree sales have hit a major milestone less than a week after the long-awaited DLC's release, publisher Bandai Namco has revealed.
Per a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Shadow of the Erdtree has sold five million copies since its release this past Friday. The publisher extends its "heartfelt gratitude" to those who are treading "the path left by Kindly Miquella".
Given that Elden Ring itself has sold 25 million copies at last count, that means around 20% of Elden Ring's players have picked up the DLC so far. It's likely that more players will discover the Land of Shadow as time goes on, too.
Shadow of the Erdtree is the first - and probably also the last - expansion for From Software's huge open-world masterpiece Elden Ring. The DLC adds a number of new bosses to fight, as well as new lands to explore and new weapons to collect.
Since it's a From Software project, Shadow of the Erdtree boasts a typically obscure story, but on the face of it, you're journeying to the mysterious Land of Shadow to follow in the footsteps of the Empyrean Miquella and discover the reason behind his journey.
Along the way, you'll have to reckon with the terrifying Messmer and his all-encompassing flame, plus plenty of other creatures that would love to kill you and display you on their mantelpiece.
On release, Shadow of the Erdtree garnered universal acclaim amongst critics, who praised its rich exploration, wealth of new weapons, and highly difficult bosses.
However, the difficulty of the DLC proved a sticking point for many players; Shadow of the Erdtree debuted to a Mixed rating on Steam (now sitting at Mostly Positive), with many players complaining about its difficulty being too high.
Yesterday, Bandai Namco issued an update for the DLC to address this issue, and while it doesn't address things like boss attack patterns, it does make Blessings more potent, thereby potentially increasing players' damage while lowering the damage they take from enemies.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is out now on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. You can take a look at our review here if you want to know whether a trip to the Land of Shadow is worth it.
