The last time FromSoft pushed out any social media regarding the hotly-anticipated title Elden Ring was on June 28, 2019.
Since then, there have been no updates on any of their social media accounts, and outlets are grasping at straws to find any sort of evidence that the title even continues to exist, much less providing gameplay segments or some form of date for release.
We’re officially well over a year since an announcement of any sort came from an official Elden Ring source, and FromSoftware appears to be content to simply allow everyone stew in silence while wondering what will eventually occur if anything.
It’s a strong reversal from 2019 when everyone working on the project was hyping it up as the next evolution of the Soulsborne genre that FromSoft had created, with their punishing enemies and combat encounters that left a wake of dead in its stead.
Rumors pinned the title releasing sometime this year (around June), then again in the holiday; newest rumors and speculation are now found pointing to an early 2021 release. Ultimately, it’s all conjecture, based on whims and theories that frankly seem to be derived from imagination rather than ‘insiders’.
The possibility of Elden Ring being canceled in light of internal struggles from the studio during the pandemic is possible, yet the studio has continued to push out news regarding Dark Souls as recent as this year, and their primary social media accounts have continued to discuss Sekiro.
It’s just everyone seemed to have forgotten that Elden Ring was a thing.
Some are pointing to the involvement of George R. Martin as being a primary hold-up, pointing to past creative blocks that interrupted the release of Song of Ice and Fire novels that went on to make fantasy mainstream again (until the latter fourth of the series), while others are stating that the project is simply too ambitious.
Most likely, the studio has its face squarely on the grindstone as they’re attempting to develop during the time of a pandemic, and there isn’t much to show gameplay-wise that is safe to do so. The recent viral gameplay clip from Game Science, a pre-alpha build that Feng Ji publically apologized for, has renewed vigor and pressure mounting onto FromSoftware to at least offer a sign of life from Elden Ring to keep interest, or at least stymie the growing concern that the title is dead.
Until FromSoftware decides to break the silence surrounding the title which currently feels more myth than reality, there’s little anyone can do aside from offer conjecture and theories about what is actually occurring in the offices in Tokyo.
