Elden Ring
Everyone now knows how much the Elden Ring settings are able to give back wonderful and suggestive views. However, when we stop to admire the landscapes that surround us, we often end up being brutally killed by all kinds of repulsive creatures. Just to let us enjoy their creation without this danger, FromSoftware has decided to create two very generously sized artbooks.
Elden Ring
However, it is unclear whether or not these artbooks will feature interviews with the FromSoftware team as they did in previous titles. It would certainly be an interesting addition, since we may have a better overview of the creative process of Myazaki and his team. The chances of this happening are quite high if we rely on the From titles prior to Elden Ring.
| ); } Elden Ring At the time of writing, the release of these artbooks for Elden Ring is scheduled for the Japanese market only. The expected date is November 30, 2022 and there is, at the moment, no information regarding a possible launch on the European market. However, according to FromSoftware's past, an exit outside the Asian market is almost taken for granted, all that remains is to wait for confirmation. Finally, the Japanese studio was recently the protagonist of an investment by Sony and Tencent. The two companies have obtained about 30% of From's shares, opening interesting implications for the future of the team.
Sony And Tencent Are Buying Pieces Of Elden Ring’s FromSoftware
Elden Ring
FromSoftwareIn this age of mega-acquisitions, there is no hotter developer than FromSoftware, long the maker of beloved games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne, but recently hitting new highs with massive Elden Ring sales and a seemingly inevitable march toward a 2022 GOTY win.
Now, FromSoftware is attracting interest from more outside forces. Today, it’s been announced that Sony will own 14.1% of FromSoftware and Tencet will own 16.3%, and become its second largest shareholder. The majority is still owned by Japan’s Kadowkawa, and the Elden Ring IP is still owned by Bandai Namco and From.
The idea is that FromSoftware is going to use the new capital to expand, develop more IP and publish capabilities. While it’s not impossible one of these companies will indeed acquire them someday, given the current market, that’s not what’s happening today, just that a 30% stake is now owned by these two companies. Elsewhere, Sony recently purchased Bungie, and Tencent has a piece in nearly every pie in the gaming industry.
Elden Ring
FromHere's the official statement as to why FromSoftware seems into this move, and their plans going forward with both of these companies:
“Through the implementation of the fund procurement, FromSoftware will aim to proactively invest in development of more powerful game IP for itself to strengthen FromSoftware’s development capabilities and will seek to establish a framework that allows the expansion of the scope of its own publishing in the significantly growing global market. In addition to these purposes, for an increase of the number of users in the global market for game IP that FromSoftware creates and develops, FromSoftware decided to conduct the Third-Party Allotment to Sixjoy within the Tencent Group, which has strength in its capabilities to develop and deploy mobile games and other network technologies in the global market including China, and SIE within the Sony Group, which has strength in its capabilities to deploy IP in games, videos and various other media in the global market, concurrently and separately.”
Is that a hint of FromSoftware maybe trying to get into the multimedia game through Sony? Gaming IPs are hot properties for TV series and movies now, more than they’ve been previously, and it’s easy to see how someone may want to take a stab at adapting Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro or Elden Ring outside of gaming.
As for the games themselves, we are still waiting to hear about any possible Elden Ring DLC, which does seem inevitable given the massive sales and how much DLC would likely sell. And everyone expects Elden Ring 2 will arrive someday, with how much of a smash hit the first one was, but obviously that’s an announcement that could potentially still be years off. For now, it seems like From is trying to sort through all its recent success, and figure out where to go next from here, and who can best help them.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.