Elden Ring backstabs CoD Vanguard in US sales

Elden Ring's boundless popularity has helped it become a remarkable success story — latest NPD data has it as the best-selling game of the last 12 months in the US, outselling even the likes of Call of Duty: Vanguard.

What's especially impressive about this is that Elden Ring had only been out a little over two months at the end of April when the latest NPD numbers were collated, meaning that it has managed to outsell games that have been out for more than five times as long (even Vanguard has been out for more than twice as long), including the usual barrage of major releases that dropped in the holiday window last year. Activision already admitted that Vanguard "didn't meet our expectations," so this marketplace defeat at the hands of a hardcore action-RPG is just a twist of the knife. The really, really big knife.

Elden Ring is a resounding commercial success

The April NPD numbers were reported on by BenjiSales on Twitter, with recent estimates suggesting that Elden Ring has sold almost 13.5 million copies worldwide to date. This would make it by far the most successful FromSoftware game ever — as of From's last update in 2020, the entire Dark Souls series stood at 27 million sales, which Elden Ring has managed to match half of on its own in a little over two months, and while maidenless. Impressive stuff.

Elden Ring continues to see regular updates and balance patches, and with monstrous sales figures like these, DLC and a sequel feel like no-brainers. Done with the Elden Ring achievements? Which ending did you get first? Would you head back to the Lands Between if future DLC added more achievements? Let us know, bold Tarnished!

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Written by Luke Albigés

Luke runs the TA news team, contributing where he can primarily with reviews and other long-form features — crafts he has honed across two decades of print and online gaming media experience, having worked with the likes of gamesTM, Eurogamer, Play, Retro Gamer, Edge, and many more. He loves all things Monster Hunter, enjoys a good D&D session, and has played way too much Destiny.