While Elden Ring DLC is being awaited with excitement, some unexpected news about the game is coming to us from China. Given the great success of the game, which sold more than 20 million copies in its first year, we expected Tencent to be closely interested in From Software, the studio behind the game. This did not fail: in 2022, the Chinese video game giant will acquire 16% of the company’s shares.
However, it was clear that the publisher was not content with buying back shares. Reuters revealed today that it was another project that prompted Tencent to invest in the studio. According to an internal source, the company has started development of the mobile version of Elden Ring. To date, about a dozen people are working on a prototype. However, development is said to be progressing very slowly, casting doubt on whether the port will open soon.
Elden Ring can be streamed for free on smartphones, but with one condition.
While we might be happy to see one of the best games of 2022 reach a wider audience, we might question the economic model Tencent is planning. It is really difficult to sell a game for 70 euros to a public that is accustomed to dropping only a few coins for its applications. Predictably, Tencent would therefore prefer the free-to-play option. However, those who say that free-to-play mobile necessarily means microtransactions.
It is too early to predict their content and scope. But after the critical backlash Diablo Immortal received after its release, we can seriously doubt whether players will get the news. If it’s possible to pay to get through a difficult boss more easily, how about the game’s gameplay design that encourages you to surpass yourself and learn from your mistakes to achieve victory? Here again, we’d say this is good news for accessibility, especially for a game this demanding. After all, perhaps the microtransactions in question will be for cosmetic purposes only. Only the future will tell us that.
Source : Reuters
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