The Shadow of the Erdtree expansion for Elden Ring will be the size of two DLCs, according to a recently emerged rumor. This claim surfaced online just as the fandom uncovered a new Elden Ring bug that breaks the game in a terrifying fashion.
Following historic success of its latest open-world RPG, FromSoftware officially announced the first Elden Ring expansion in late February. Since the Japanese developer shared no information about the DLC beyond its title and a single piece of concept art, the announcement fueled wild speculation about what the upcoming expansion will entail.
And while the fandom is still waiting for more official news, known leaker Lance McDonald has taken online to add to the hype surrounding Shadow of the Erdtree, while also sharing some insight into its development. In a recent Discord post, McDonald stated that Shadow of the Erdtree will be an absolutely massive update on par with two separate DLCs, not least because the developer ended up rolling all its post-launch content plans into this one expansion. Elaborating on that claim, McDonald said that FromSoftware originally intended to offer a season pass for the game, but ended up canceling those plans, most likely before it started updating Elden Ring's arena files that first fueled DLC speculation in late 2022.
As things stand right now, Shadow of the Erdtree will be the only Elden Ring expansion, McDonald concluded. For context, this leaker is the one who first broke the news about a "huge" Elden Ring expansion being on the way a month ahead of Shadow of the Erdtree's announcement, so his claims hold some weight. And while a portion of the fandom might be disappointed that Elden Ring won't be treated to multiple expansions, one DLC is still an improvement over Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, seeing how FromSoftware's previous game received no post-launch content despite widespread pleas.
The claim that Elden Ring will only get a single expansion that was originally planned as multiple individual pieces of DLC sounds somewhat reminiscent of Bloodborne. FromSoftware's PS4 hit was also reported to have aimed for several expansions before the developer decided to roll all of its content plans into The Old Hunters DLC, which released in late 2015 to critical acclaim and fan adoration, much like the base game itself.
This newly surfaced rumor will likely remain unconfirmed for a while yet, not least because Shadow of the Erdtree has yet to be treated to a release date or even release window. According to past reports, Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon will be FromSoftware's only 2023 release, so Elden Ring's DLC is expected to launch no earlier than spring 2024.
Elden Ring is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.