Developer FromSoftware now fully owns the trademark to its open world opus Elden Ring, after previously sharing ownership with publisher Bandai Namco.
Changes to the trademark records apparently went into effect last year on April 24, 2023, even though government websites in the UK and US only reflected the "change of ownership" recently. Bandai Namco is still actively on publishing duties and the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC was highlighted in its latest earnings report, so this legal handover doesn't change anything immediately.
While Bandai Namco isn't totally out of the picture - the company even updated its Elden Ring YouTube playlist recently - this change in ownership could signal FromSoftware's growing ambitions. The heavyweight studio recently planned to expand in size, potentially gearing up to self-publish its future slate following investments from Sony and Tencent.
FromSoftware's parent company even mentioned plans to kickstart the studio's self-publishing efforts in the next few years, after publishing deals with Sony (who own the Bloodborne IP), Activision (who published Sekiro outside of Japan), and, of course, Bandai Namco (Armored Core, Dark Souls). We'll see how this affects the studio's future games, if at all, soon.
The Shadow of the Erdtree DLC is presumably the studio's next project slated for release. Details are scarce on the nebulous expansion, but it's seemingly entering its final phases of production. Only FromSoft could drop a teaser image, set community theories ablaze, and then go radio silent for months. I bet it’ll be worth the wait anyway.
In the meantime, Elden Ring might receive a gacha game in the vein of Genshin Impact.
