An Elden Ring mobile game is reportedly in the works by Tencent. According to Reuters, its alleged that the Chinese tech company have been hard at work at developing the title since acquiring stock over 16 percent from the franchise’s developer From Software in 2022.
Sources claimed that the Elden Ring mobile game will emulate other current popular mobile games like Genshin Impact, with a free-to-play formate and in-app purchases. This is a far cry from the game that it’s based off.
Despite its initial high cost, Elden Ring became the most best-selling game of 2022, selling around 20 million copies in its first year. Elden Ring was lauded by fans for the amount of content packed into the game and it’s lack of micro transactions.
Tencent has had it’s fair share of trouble in the mobile game markets in recent months. After ending its Apex Legends mobile game in 2023 and Neir Reincarnation in April 2024, it was recently uncovered that another unnamed Nier mobile game was axed due to concerns over monetization due to exorbitant royalty fees.
This hasn’t always been the case. Tencent had history of successful mobile games from existing IP, including Honor of Kings and PUBG Mobile. However, recent years have proven quite challenging for the company, and it’s caused the to contemplate their stance amongst their competitors. Tencent chief executive and co-founder Pony echoed those same sentiments in an interview with Reuters in December.
“Gaming is our flagship business…But in the past year, we have faced significant challenges,” said Ma. “We have found ourselves at a loss, as our competitors continue to produce new products, leaving us feeling having achieved nothing.”
Tencent has yet to comment on the report. Considering the information on the game is still rather vague, it’s likely fans won’t see an official announcement in the near future.
Regardless, this at least shows Tencent’s resolve to continue producing content within the mobile game industry despite its recent shortcomings.