Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdree's success deftly parries 'extraordinary losses' caused by a recent cyberattack on FromSoftware's parent company

Messmer the Impaler looms viciously in front of the player, a flicker of roiling flame in his hand in Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.

(Image credit: FromSoftware)

Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree hit like a Moonlight Greatsword for FromSoftware's parent company Kadokawa Corporation, leading the company's gaming sector to substantial growth despite "extraordinary losses" incurred by a cyberattack in June.

As reported by Automaton, Kadokawa recently published its consolidated financial results for the first quarter of the fiscal year. According to said report, Kadokawa experienced losses of approximately 2,000 million yen (roughly $13.5 million) because of the cyberattack, which severely disrupted the company's services and resulted in massive data leaks. The report doesn't fully detail these losses, but it states they "included compensation expenses for creators of the Niconico services" (a Japanese video sharing service) and "expenses related to investigation and restoration".

The result was a 10.1% decline in Kadokawa's net profit. Yet despite this, the corporation saw a significant increase in net sales and an 84.6% growth in ordinary profit compared to last year. This was spearheaded by growth in Kadokawa's video game sector, which saw an 80.2%, year-on-year increase, totalling 7,744 million yen (approx. $52 million) in sales.

The report specifically highlights "strong domestic sales" of Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, as well as "increased repeat sales" of the base game, as key factors in this growth, stating that both releases have "driven powerfully" Kadokawa's financial results in its gaming segment. As noted by Automaton, since the first fiscal quarter ended on the 30th of June, the report only accounts for the first ten days that Shadow of the Erdtree was on sale, meaning it shifted some seriously big numbers in a very short space of time. Indeed, while Kadokawa's report doesn't specify sales figures for Shadows of the Erdtree, it's been reported previously that the DLC sold 5 million copies in its first three days. No wonder it gets a financial pat on the head.

Impressive as these figures are, they're also hardly surprising given the almighty success of Elden Ring on its initial launch. Nonetheless, it helps that Shadow of the Erdtree was arguably an even better slice of grimdark RPG action than Elden Ring's already exceptional adventure. Tyler awarded it a stonking score of 95 in his review, calling it "A stunning achievement that reminds me why I fell in love with FromSoft's games in the first place."

Rick has been fascinated by PC gaming since he was seven years old, when he used to sneak into his dad's home office for covert sessions of Doom. He grew up on a diet of similarly unsuitable games, with favourites including Quake, Thief, Half-Life and Deus Ex. Between 2013 and 2022, Rick was games editor of Custom PC magazine and associated website bit-tech.net. But he's always kept one foot in freelance games journalism, writing for publications like Edge, Eurogamer, the Guardian and, naturally, PC Gamer. While he'll play anything that can be controlled with a keyboard and mouse, he has a particular passion for first-person shooters and immersive sims.