An Update on Elden Ring DLC Collector's Editions

News

By RC Staff

29 April 2024

The release date for Elden Ring’s DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree, is slowly nearing. While collector’s editions and premium merch went up for sale in February, we haven’t seen them sell out. There are a bizarre number of confirmed sales through eBay despite all of the editions being available for preorder through Bandai Namco’s site. It’s likely that they’ll either sell out or be removed from sale soon, but we’re less optimistic about their value in the long run.

Shadow of the Erdtree Collector's Editions

Back in February, Elden Ring developer FromSoftware finally released the first gameplay footage of the highly anticipated DLC for the game.

Shadow of the Erdtree has been in the works for nearly two years now, and gamers have been painfully starved for any morsel of information they could get. FromSoftware’s three minute trailer was huge news, but the June 21 release date was still a long way out.

The last few seconds of the trailer also showed off the Shadow of the Erdtree Collector’s Editions, that included exclusive content and a collectable statue.

That was two months ago. Since then, Bandai Namco has done additional promotion for these collector’s editions through their Twitter, which went semi-viral thanks to Bandai’s suggestive wording.

18 inches is a compelling offer. Of course, we covered all of these items when they first went up for preorder.

We were paying close attention to these. After Elden Ring completely dominated the gaming scene in 2022, Elden Ring Collector’s Editions also mooned. Resellers were flipping statues and exclusive merch for thousands at one point.

With such a long wait until the DLC and the incredible amount of hype built in the interim, we knew interest in Shadow of the Erdtree Collector’s Editions would be strong. Resellers quickly rushed Bandai Namco’s website to start loading up on preorders before they sold out.

And then they… just didn’t sell out. We waited a few days, then weeks, and now even two months later they’re still in stock.

You can actually check the stock for certain products when buying them online. Simply attempt to add a large number of the item to your cart. If you receive a “quantity limited exceeded” warning, the number you entered is below their total stock. A “Not enough product” message means the number is more than the total stock.

For Shadow of the Erdtree Collector’s Editions, there’s somewhere around 11,000 units for PS5, 3,000 for PC, and less than 1,000 for Xbox consoles.

When we checked last month, we found that PS5 units were down to under 1,000 as well, meaning Bandai Namco has been shifting the goalposts for these “limited editions” behind the scenes.

FromSoftware games are extremely popular on Sony’s consoles, so it’s likely that the PS5 editions are actually selling the most despite having the most remaining stock.

Shadow of the Erdtree Messmer Helmet

At the same time that these collector’s editions went live, Bandai Namco also began selling premium collectable helmets. These are based on the character “Messmer the Impaler”, who will likely be a major player in the upcoming DLC.

Priced at $190, this is a serious piece of kit. Bandai Namco previously produced a similar collectable helmet back in 2021 to promote Elden Ring, and these ended up being enormously popular after the game’s release.

These Messmer Helmets are still available for preorder. It’s worth noting that these are numbered items, and limited to 9,999 total units. Bandai Namco will not be able to overproduce them like they have with the Collector’s Editions.

Shadow of the Erdtree Merch Resells

Sorry for the long recap, but now you know exactly what we’re talking about. Bamco has spun up a ton of merch and is hawking it for inflated prices. Not only that, Shadow of the Erdtree Collector’s Editions are almost certainly being made to order, and are not as limited of a product as we first thought.

As of this publication, everything we’ve mentioned is still available for sale through Bandai Namco’s webstore. Surely, there’s no way people will be looking for a reseller, right?

Wrong! Somehow, for some reason, there have been a significant number of aftermarket sales for these items at inflated prices. The Messmer Helmets are especially profitable, usually flipping for about $300 while Collector’s Editions have sold for $300 to $500.

Again, anyone can buy one of these directly from the publisher for $100 less than a reseller is asking. Are Elden Ring fans incapable of using Google? Are they just dumb? Considering that there’s a thriving marketplace where gamers buy in-game currency with real money, maybe they’re just used to wasting money to solve their problems.

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree is expected to release on June 21. Collector’s Editions will likely ship the same day. Bandai Namco will begin charging customers two weeks before that, and we’re guessing preorders will close at the same time.

There are a couple different scenarios we see happening in the next few weeks:

The Pump

The most obvious outcome is Bamco massively overproducing merch to capitalize on Elden Ring’s popularity. Elden Ring has sold over 23 million copies since 2022, and this DLC is the publisher’s last chance to cash in.

By pumping out massive quantities of merch and stretching the meaning of “limited edition”, Bandai Namco is setting themselves up for massive profits, and leaving resellers out of the fun.

The FOMO Flip

We’ve talked a lot about how long the preorders have been open for these collector’s editions, but you should know that’s actually pretty normal.

Some of the most popular releases we’ve covered in the last few years like Final Fantasy XVI and Baldur’s Gate 3 had collector’s editions that sat in stock for months. When the games released and exploded in popularity, the CEs exploded in price.

So even though this merch has been sitting around for a while, it’s entirely possible that the fires of FOMO will drive post-release sales.

The Cancellation Wave

Let’s talk about Bandai’s cancellation policy. If you were to place a preorder for one of these collector’s editions, right now, a temporary hold will be put on your card for the total purchase.

Two weeks before the release date, you will be charged for the preorder, and this is also your last opportunity to cancel the order. If your card bounces, the order will be cancelled automatically.

All of this is to say that Bandai Namco has been taking preorders for two months now, and will likely keep taking them for another month at least. They haven’t actually been charging anyone. What will happen if a significant number of orders are cancelled prior to the product’s release?

We don’t really know. Maybe Bamco is expecting this, maybe not. Maybe a ton of new collector’s editions will flood the market after release (very bad for resellers), or maybe they’re scaling the production to the final number of confirmed, paid preorders (probably good for resellers).

At this point we’re just guessing. All we can say is that based on what we’ve seen in the past few months, these collector’s editions do not look promising. Bandai Namco is making a lot of them, and if people end up cancelling ahead of release it will seriously hurt their resell value.

It’s possible they end up being very lucrative, but it’s looking more like a flop at this point. Without knowing exactly what’s going on behind the scenes at Bamco, we can’t say anything more than DYOR.

If you want to have updates like these sent directly to you, subscribe to our newsletter. We’re pretty curious how these editions will turn out, so stay tuned for a post-release breakdown in June.