The Game Awards have come and gone, again without mention of Shadow of the Erdtree, developer FromSoftware's eagerly anticipated Elden Ring DLC (despite some of the community's more arcane efforts). But now we might better understand when we could expect to return to The Lands Between, at least, if a gaudy third-party controller is anything to go by.
Spotted by Redditors and salvaged after precious posts were taken down, gaming retail website DataBlitz briefly hosted an extremely informative page dedicated to a Bandai Namco x Thrustmaster collaboration. Swiftly removed, the internet never forgets, and so we know that a series of debatably aesthetic "ESWAP X II Pro Elden Ring Limited Edition" Xbox controllers are in the works (or at least they were in October) and have a tentative release date of February 2024.
More relevant to our purview is the advertised ability to "sync with new 'Shadow of the Erdtree' expansion release", which would suggest Bandai Namco is (or was) planning something a release in about nine weeks. February 25th marks the second anniversary of the game's release and fits that timeline.
Intriguingly, additional controllers themed around Shardbearers Malenia and Ranni were teased for "year two of collaboration (2025)", with "release to be synchronised with 2025 Elden Ring major keybeat or new game expansion". As exciting as the prospect of another Elden Ring expansion might be, as Eurogamer's Matt Wales points out, this could just as easily refer to a complete edition bundle packaging the base game and Shadow of the Erdtree.