It has been more than a year since the expansion of "Elden Ring: Shadow of the Elder Tree" was announced, and since then we have heard no news worth mentioning. The latest financial report released by From Software's parent company, Kadokawa, contains both good and bad news: things are going well.

"Development is progressing well, although a release date for the Elden Ring DLC has not yet been announced. And that is about it. For the true optimists who were hoping for a Columbo-esque "just one more" surprise announcement of a release date later in the report, alas, it is not: in the Q&A, Kadokawa said, "We are currently working diligently on the development of the Elden Ring DLC, but at this time we have not announced a release date. We have not announced it."

He reiterates that.

This probably puts to rest our speculation that Shadow of Eldestree will be released in late 2023; early 2024 is not out of the realm of possibility, but the paucity of information (or vague previews) so far (literally, confirmation that it will be released and an exciting but not particularly informative piece of concept art), we would temper our expectations.

I hate to leave empty-handed, so here's one thin thread of hope to hold onto: the Game Awards will be held on December 7, ostensibly to honor the best games of the year, but there are also quite a few announcements and updates of new games. Also, recall that Elden Ring's first gameplay release in 2021 was at Geoff Keighley's other big show, Summer Game Fest; Shadow of the Erdtree is Keighley's main event. Is there any chance that "Shadow of the Erdtree" will appear at Keighley's main event?

The report also states that Kadokawa's "repeat sales" of Elden Ring "remained strong" during the first half of its fiscal year and that From Software's Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon was a "huge success" in Japan, selling over 700,000 units. Although no figures were given, Kadokawa stated that "worldwide sales are expected to increase in the second half of the year."