Elden Ring has been one of the most successful games in recent years, with impressive sales and high player engagement.
Elden Ring’s Player Engagement
Games like Dark Souls are known for their difficulty, which can lead to early abandonment. However, Elden Ring offers more freedom than its predecessors, allowing players stuck on a boss to explore the vast open world instead. This has contributed to players spending significant time in the game, as highlighted by Alinea Analytics.
- On Steam, 64% of Elden Ring players have spent more than 50 hours. On PlayStation, this figure is 49%.
- Steam players: 44.7% (7 million) have played over 100 hours. On PlayStation, it’s 36.7% (nearly 5 million players).
Interestingly, more PlayStation players quit within the first 5 hours compared to PC users, suggesting console players prefer different gameplay styles than challenging Souls-like mechanics.
Comparing Elden Ring with Other RPGs
Alinea Analytics compared Elden Ring with Baldur’s Gate 3 and Diablo 4 on Steam, as shown in the chart below:
- In the 100 to 500 hours range, Elden Ring leads with 42.6%, showing its replayability and variety.
- Baldur’s Gate 3 comes second at 32.8%, which makes sense given its multiple options.
- Diablo 4 is third at 26.7%, likely due to regular updates.
Diablo 4 currently leads in players with over 500 hours. As Blizzard adds more content, this gap may widen in the future.
Player Numbers
Over 36 million players own Elden Ring across all platforms, generating nearly $2 billion in revenue. Its expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, sold 2.4 million copies on Steam alone.
Elden Ring is available on PC, PS4, PS5, XOne, XSX/S, and will launch on Nintendo Switch 2 as the expanded Tarnished Edition. Additional platforms will get this content via DLC.