Shortly after the surprise announcement ofElden Ring: Nightreignat The Game Awards 2024, statements from FromSoftware and Bandi Namco confirmed some important details about the game’s upcoming release. Releasing at an unspecified date in 2025,Nightreignis a spinoff ofElden Ring, taking the form of an open-world, co-op roguelike that diverges from FromSoft’s usual Soulslike offerings in several ways, including the use of preset characters instead of player-created protagonists.
As reported byPC Gamer,Elden Ring: Nightreignwill not be a live service title, with the game’s director, Junya Ishizaki, stating in an interview, “We wanted to have a game that felt like a complete package out of the box,” additionally emphasizing that, whileNightreignwill receive post-release updates,the game will be complete in terms of content on the day of release. Additionally, publisher Bandai Namco has stated thatNightreignwill not be a full-priced release and will instead be in a similar price range asElden Ring’sShadow of the Erdtree DLC.
Elden Ring: Nightreign Will Not Be A Live Service Game
Nightreign’s Director Confirms That The Game Is Avoiding The Live Service Model
From early trailers and previews,Nightreignseems to take some inspiration from typical live service titles, with an emphasis on cooperative play, randomly generated content, and a battle royale-style shrinking map, which cuts off how much of the map players can explore throughout a three-day run. Despite those elements, however,Nightreignis not going to be FromSoft’s first foray into live service titles, something that longtime fans of the studios' games will likely view as a positive.
Overall,avoiding the live service model forNightreignis probably a smart move- while the game would’ve likely found an audience on the strength ofElden Ringand FromSoftware’s names alone, the market for live service games is growing more saturated with every passing year, and a game with an upfront cost, likeNightreign, can be a hard sell for live service audiences. Moreover, the monetization schemes that are typical of live service games would likely have sparked some backlash from FromSoftware’s usual fans.
Nightreign’s Single-Purchase Model Could Have A Downside
Avoiding Live Service Is A Plus For Nightreign, But It Could Mean Less Substantial Post-Launch Updates
While avoiding the live service model is likely to be a net positive forNightreign, it may also come with a few downsides. Most notably,while Ishizaki has spoken about the possibility of post-release updates, it seems like those updates are going to be more in line with the kind of free updatesElden Ringgot, which were mostly balance adjustments to already-existing content. A successful live service title, on the other hand, can afford to add entirely new content regularly, something whichNightreignmight miss out on due to being a one-time purchase.
From early previews,Nightreignlooks to be a massive departure from FromSoft’s usual offerings, dialing up the mobility and action and streamlining the usual process of powering up during a playthrough of a souls-like - which may not suit the tastes of every FromSoft fan. Luckily, anetwork test forNightreignwill let some players get some hands-on experience with the game, and, for better or worse,Elden Ring: Nightreignwill be released in its entirety in 2025.
