As reported by GamesRadar, FromSoftware parent company Kadokawa celebrated the continued sales success of Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erdtree, and multiplayer spinoff Nightreign in a second quarter earnings report released on November 6. Buried in the slides is something a little more exciting for Elden Ring fans, though: An indication of when we can expect the release of Nightreign's promised DLC.

"We have multiple game titles in the development pipeline," reads a section on page 16 of the report. "FromSoftware is currently developing Elden Ring Nightreign DLC (planned for release in FY2025) Elden Ring Tarnished Edition (planned for release in 2026 for Nintendo Switch 2), and The Duskbloods (planned for release in 2026)."

Further back in Kadokawa's information archive, you can see that the conglomerate's 2024 fiscal year ended on March 31, 2025, meaning that the current 2025 fiscal year will end on March 31, 2026. Barring a delay, that would be the latest we can expect to see some form of substantial, presumably paid DLC for Nightreign.

As for what it will contain, Nightreign's Steam page previously let slip that we can expect "Additional playable characters and bosses." Given the relatively quick turnaround (compared to the 2+ year wait for Shadow of the Erdtree) and Nightreign's already mod-like, kitbashed nature, I'd anticipate FromSoftware will turn to its archive again, with more skins and bosses from Dark Souls.

Weapons, enemies, and bosses from the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion to Elden Ring, which is largely unrepresented in Nightreign, feel like a slam dunk to me. It'd be great to play with the new weapon types like light greatswords, backhand blades, or great katanas, while a Dryleaf martial artist would make for an exciting new player class.

On my own, personal wishlist, I want to see more map variety by any means necessary: New camps, new seeds for map generation, new shifting earth, maybe even an entirely new base map patterned after the Land of Shadow. Also, please give me an Executor skin of Sir Alonne from Dark Souls 2.

The report notably does not mention any Next Big Thing in the works by FromSoftware⁠—Duskbloods kinda counts, but come on, it's a multiplayer thing and (at least for some period of time) a Switch 2 exclusive. It feels like we're about due to get a first look at the next big, mainline project from the studio⁠—maybe an Armored Core 6 expansion/sequel on the order of Silent Line, For Answer, and Verdict Day from the series' past, or a pre-rendered teaser of the next Soulsborne Thing, be it Elden Ring 2 or something else entirely. Both would be nice⁠—a fella can dream, right?

It's been a bad week for budding MMO studios. Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street's MMO is now officially kaput after NetEase pulled the plug in October, and now Jackalyptic Games—which was working on a yet-to-be-revealed Warhammer MMO—is the third dev NetEase has left to wither on the vine this week (as well as its sixth Western studio closure this year).

Jackalyptic CEO Jack Emmert announced Friday on LinkedIn that "after nearly three and a half years working with NetEase Games as a first party studio, our partnership will be coming to an end." Emmert did not state that the studio is closing just yet, but it's in dire straits and much of its staff are looking for new work.

Also on LinkedIn, senior sound designer at Jackalyptic Ben Dahl said "with NetEase stepping back from their involvement in Jackalyptic, myself and the majority of the studio are now looking for a new home, like so many others over the past few weeks. Honestly, devastated doesn’t even begin to cover it."

In his post, he noted he was proud of the game's two-person audio team, saying "there is no doubt in my mind that every single person from Jackalyptic who is now looking for work would be an incredible asset to your studio. Do not let them slip through your fingers!"

The studio, which used to go by Jackalope Games, was NetEase's first game studio in North America. Its CEO, Emmert, has been around the massively multiplayer block before; his resume includes a wealth of MMOs, such as Champions Online, DC Universe Online, and a scrapped Marvel MMO he led prior to joining Jackalyptic. Like Fantastic Pixel Castle, Bad Brain, and T-Minus Zero before it, the studio was dropped by NetEase before it could release a single game.

It's clear that NetEase is cutting back substantially on its investment in overseas studios, and MMOs in particular do not come cheap or quick. Stable cashflow is a holy grail in an industry full of ludicrously expensive games going up in smoke amid tens of thousands of layoffs and cancellations regardless of studio output. Any modern MMO looking to take on entrenched titans like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV will need time and steady investment as it grows; the demand is clearly there, after all. That said, it's hard to see a future for the genre if games keep going belly-up before they have a chance to even release.