There is an exit ahead Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, Bandai Namco is watching Elder ring to increase sales of the game.
Speaking to GamesIndustry, Arno Miller (CEO of its European office) said that the success of FromSoftware’s role-playing game 2022 will allow Armored Core VI launch “on a much larger scale. […] It’s a big step forward for this franchise.”
While FromSoftware’s games (e.g. Bloodborne and the Dark Souls franchise) have sold very well time and time again, Elder ring was a turning point for the developer. The game sold 20 million copies in its first year alone and won numerous year-end awards.
“Thanks to Elden Ring, FromSoftware has become a seal, a guarantee of quality,” he continued. “We will not be able to match Elder ring numbers, but we will far surpass what Armored Core has done in previous games.”
Many roads to Armored Core VI
A game’s success (or lack thereof) is measured by more than a developer’s previous results. While this can certainly help, other factors such as the game’s environment affect its performance.
Armored Core 6 is the first installment of FromSoftware’s franchise since Armored Core: Verdict Day ten years ago. The lack of a franchise can be quite fond, especially when this new entry is also its first release on current-gen systems.
It also helps that it’s coming out at a time when there’s a noticeable dearth of big-budget games centered around mechs, a niche that hasn’t been occupied since 2016 fall of titan 2.
FromSoftware rose to prominence in the 2010s in part because its Dark Souls games carved a niche for players who wanted more challenges from games that didn’t always deliver. The aesthetic may have changed, but FromSoftware’s work could always be counted on to provide a challenging (but rewarding) challenge.
This was noted by Miller Lights of the Rubicon will provide an opportunity to “really expand the audience of Armored Core games.” But just looking like something we don’t usually get with triple-A games, let alone August, Armored Core VI may have already secured its future as a standout title in a year that included hits such as Baldur’s gate 3 and Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.