Thousands of Elden Ring players have rushed to beat Mohg, Lord of Blood after developer FromSoftware revealed the optional boss must be defeated before expansion Shadow of the Erdtree can be accessed.

Steam Achievement data shows that, when Elden Ring publisher Bandai Namco reminded players to defeat Mohg on June 12, 2024, only 37.8% of players had beaten it already. Now that the highly anticipated downloadable content is available, on June 21, that number has risen to 39.6%.

While a rise of almost two percentage points doesn’t seem like a lot, Elden Ring has sold a colossal 25 million units since its release in February 2022. Even if just one million of those played on Steam (the actual number is likely much higher), that would mean 18,000 players jumped back into Elden Ring to make final preparations ahead of Shadow of the Erdtree.

FromSoftware games like Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and now Elden Ring demand more from players than a chunk of money to access their DLC. Mohg is just one of the bosses players must beat to access Shadow of the Erdtree, though the other one is part of the main story so anyone who’s completed Elden Ring will have already ticked that box.

Many would assume this to be an issue for FromSoftware and Bandai Namco, given the game itself is essentially stopping more than half its player base from accessing the DLC and therefore wanting to spend more money. But Bandai Namco Europe’s chief marketing and sales officer Anthony Macare told GI.biz that Elden Ring has sold so many copies that it basically doesn’t matter.

“That statistic does present a unique challenge,” he said. “However, with over 25 million units sold, even a fraction of our player base constitutes a substantial audience. Our marketing efforts have been tailored to engage this significant segment effectively.”

Those who’ve not yet jumped into the DLC can ensure they’ve met all the requirements to access it, and make sure to check out our Elden Ring interactive map to ensure you’re not missing any important collectibles either.

In our 10/10 review of the expansion, IGN said: “Like the base game did before it, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree raises the bar for single player expansions,” we said. “It takes everything that made the base game such a landmark RPG, condenses it into a relatively compact 20-25 hour campaign, and provides fantastic new challenges for heavily invested fans to chew on.”

Those looking to explore every inch of that can IGN’s extensive guide, which covers Shadow of the Erdtree’s new weapons, its various quest lines, and how to defeat those pesky new bosses.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.