Blog

Elden Ring Tarnished Edition has recently been rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. With the ESRB finalizing its review of the game, it could mean the Elden Ring Switch 2 edition could be launching sooner than some expected.

‘Elden Ring’ Switch 2 Release Date Could be hinted at with ESRB Rating completed

Although Elden Ring Tarnished Edition was initially revealed during the Switch 2 Direct in April, no release date was given at the time. However, the popular FromSoftware RPG was recently rated by the ESRB for Nintendo’s console on June 30. This could actually give us an idea when we can expect the much-anticipated port.

Once a title is rated by ESRB, they sometimes release 4 to 6 months after it. “Sometimes” being the important keyword here, as this isn’t always the case. But it’s true for a lot of games. With FromSoftware stating that Elden Ring Switch 2 was set to launch “sometime in 2025”, it could launch on Switch 2 anytime between August through December. So while there is no guarantee, it looks like the game isn’t going to be delayed into 2026, as some fans had worried.

As a side note, I can’t help but be amused reading ESRB’s rating of Elden Ring Switch 2 edition. “ELDEN RING Tarnished Edition is rated M for Mature 17+ by the ESRB with Blood and Gore, Language, Suggestive Themes, and Violence. During the course of the game, a humanoid monster is depicted partially nude, with scales/scars covering its breast and pelvic regions. The word “sh*t” appears in the dialogue.” I sometimes forget how weird Elden Ring gets. The fact that we can play it on a Nintendo console is just kind of mind-blowing, as a 90s kid.

‘Tarnished Edition’ to be featured during July Nintendo Direct?

With a Nintendo Switch 2 Direct rumored to be happening in July, some have theorized that the release date for Elden Ring Tarnished Edition could be announced then. Although the “leaked” Direct also claims a Metaphor: ReFantazio port is also going to be revealed at the event. Maybe it’s just me, but this is starting to sound a little too good to be true. But hey, you never know!

Another thing I’m curious about is how Elden Ring will actually perform on Switch 2. There is no way that it actually runs at 60 FPS, as it struggles to maintain that on PS5. But if FromSoftware is able to keep it locked at 30 FPS with decent graphics, it could be the best way to play the open-world RPG on the go. I’ve actually beaten the game on my Asus ROG, and it’s far from perfect.

FromSoftware is teaming up with Nintendo again, with the release of The Duskbloods. The exclusive multiplayer is scheduled to launch sometime in 2026. So Elden Ring releasing in 2025 would be a good warm-up for players diving into FromSoftware for the first time. Then again, you can play Dark Souls right now on Nintendo Switch 2. Even if it doesn’t have an upgraded version, it still runs decently!

Xbox is in a weird place right now, and I’m not the only one who thinks so. In fact, people with more important opinions on the subject than myself seem to agree: if Microsoft doesn’t get its shit together on hardware, the box as we know it is cooked. Laura Fryer, the former director of the Xbox Advanced Technology Group for the original Xbox project back in May 2000 and former executive producer for Microsoft Games Studios up until the Xbox 360 days, put it bluntly in a recent video.

“Obviously, as one of the founding members of the Xbox team, I’m not pleased with where things are today. I don’t love watching all of the value that I helped create slowly get eroded away,” Fryer said in a video on YouTube. “I’m sad because, from my perspective, it looks like Xbox has no desire—or literally can’t—ship hardware anymore. So, this partnership is about a slow exit from the hardware business completely. Personally, I think Xbox hardware is dead.”

The partnership that Fryer is referring to is, of course, the Xbox and Asus team-up that will see the release of the ROG Xbox Ally handheld that was announced at Computex earlier this month. The criticism from within the games industry and fans is that Microsoft didn’t design the handheld device, instead outsourcing the work to Asus, which modified its existing ROG Ally X handheld PCs, and then slapped Xbox software onto it. Was it laziness on Microsoft and Xbox’s part? Or is it afraid to commit to Xbox hardware?

Ouch. As rough as those words may be, it’s hard not to agree. Out of the gate, Xbox’s current generation of consoles, the Series S and X, were all but trounced by Sony and the PS5, the latter of which snatched a commanding 70 percent of the market share in the first five years of both consoles’ lives. There are a lot of reasons for that, and arguably the biggest is that PlayStation had the exclusive titles that made people actually want to buy a console. But pinning it on game exclusives doesn’t paint the full picture. Part of the problem is that Xbox, for all its past Gamer with a capital “G” glory, got boring. So yes, Xbox is in a weird place right now, but people still want consoles, which means it’s time for them to get even weirder—yes, I’m talking hardware, too.

First, let’s start with the boring box that Xbox houses all of that X in. It sucks. It’s a snooze that makes year-over-year smartphone design feel innovative. Sure, it’s sterile and can mesh with your new-build city-dwelling decor, but it’s also—on the downside—half-assed. If you’re selling people hardware that plays games, they ought to know that it’s a console and not a VCR you forgot to sell in 1997. Say what you will about the PS5 (it’s ugly; that’s the only correct opinion), but Sony took a swing with it. It made sure that everyone who bought one felt like they were buying a console, and like it or not, you eat with your eyes. If you want to give people a reason to buy your console, maybe try giving them a reason. Nintendo did that with the Switch in 2017, and as far as I can tell, that’s going (checks watch) really f*cking well.

Speaking of the Switch, Xbox should probably find a way to differentiate its hardware functionality-wise. As dominant as the PS5 has been in the console business, it’s still fundamentally the same machine as the Xbox. That’s a shame, considering Xbox had ample opportunities to bring hardware in exciting new directions over the years. Not to be the Kinect guy, but damn did Microsoft bungle XR big time—and then again, it bungled XR with the HoloLens. In the multiverse, there’s a timeline where Xbox used its experiments with XR via the Kinect and HoloLens to snatch value from the trembling hands of Sony and Meta’s Quest headsets. That is not this timeline, as we all know, but if it really wants to give Xbox a future worth financing, maybe there’s still room to take those more daring expeditions into gaming and refresh them for today’s age.

The last thing Xbox needs to do to get weird is a little more nebulous—it needs a new identity. Sure, Game Pass has been a ray of light in an otherwise dim outlook for Xbox, but turning the consoles into subscription machines doesn’t exactly scream, “We see you gamers, and we hear you.” Xbox can still continue to sell Game Pass subscriptions, don’t get me wrong—I love Game Pass, and being able to stream games on devices like the Quest 3 feels like a revelation to me. But the emphasis on Xbox being the thing that gets you to the thing makes hardware feel like an afterthought. Gaming on a console that you’ve spent $500 on should feel native; it should feel complete; it should feel like an Xbox, not a PC. That goes back to game exclusives, partly. Sony has had no issues getting weird with its exclusives—Death Stranding, for example, is one of the weirdest games you can play, and now Death Stranding 2 is a PS5 exclusive, which is apparently devastating some gamers. Sucks for them, but it’s kind of a huge win for PlayStation. It’s also more proof that Xbox doesn’t need to be the Netflix of gaming; it needs weird, magnetic titles that make its console feel experiential.

As you may have gathered, this would all be kind of a huge shift for Xbox, and it’s debatable whether Microsoft even has the will to make any of it work. I know the last few years have been lackluster for Xbox, but people still want consoles, and the recent success of the Switch 2 all but proves that. Nintendo, for its part, didn’t earn that success the easy way. It took a gamble with the Switch by redefining its hardware, pivoting inward towards games, and ended up releasing the defining console of our generation. That’s all to say, the ball is in your court, Microsoft. Are you going to go out with a bland, forgettable box? Or get weird and, at the very least, go down swinging?