Elden Ring DLC, New Armored Core Revealed in Bandai Namco Hack UPDATE

Elden Ring DLC, a new Armored Core game, and Little Nightmares 3 appeared among the games revealed by hackers targeting publisher Bandai Namco on Tuesday.

UPDATE 6/13/22 10:19 a.m. ET: Bandai Namco has publicly confirmed the hack took place and says it is investigating the extent of the breach. It issued the following statement to VGC:

"On July 3, 2022, Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. confirmed that it experienced an unauthorized access by third party to the internal systems of several Group companies in Asian regions (excluding Japan. After we confirmed the unauthorized access, we have taken measures such as blocking access to the servers to prevent the damage from spreading.

"In addition, there is a possibility that customer information related to the Toys and Hobby Business in Asian regions (excluding Japan) was included in the servers and PCs, and we are currently identifying the status about existence of leakage, scope of the damage, and investigating the cause.

"We will continue to investigate the cause of this incident and will disclose the investigation results as appropriate. We will also work with external organizations to strengthen security throughout the Group and take measures to prevent recurrence.

"We offer our sincerest apologies to everyone involved for any complications or concerns caused by this incident."

Bandai Namco did not confirm the information contained within the resultant leaks, but if the hack is legitimate, the leaked information likely is as well. The rest of this article continues as originally published.

Malware tracker xv-underground flagged that ransomware group ALPHV, also known as BlackCat, claimed to have hacked Bandai Namco as late as Monday (H/T Kotaku). Bandai Namco opted not to respond to the claims publicly, and the hacker group has now revealed what appears to be an internal slide documenting all of the companies upcoming releases through Q4 of fiscal year 2023.

Armored Core Release Window Leaked

The leaked slide supports rumors of an upcoming Armored Core game, likely developed by franchise originator FromSoftware and slated for release in Q1 2023, per the slide. Leaks in January first indicated the game was in production, and a 4Gamer report published last month indicated the project was nearly complete.

Elden Ring DLC Barbarians of the Badlands Release Information Leaked

FromSoftware's last game, the mega hit Elden Ring, is apparently to receive its first DLC, titled Barbarians of the Badlands, in Q3 2023. Other details of the DLC — including whether or not it's real — remain unknown.

Here's the full list of leaked titles and release windows:

• Q1 Fiscal Year 2023: Armored Core; Dragon Ball: The Breakers
• Q2 Fiscal Year 2023: Little Nightmares 3; Dragon Ball FighterZ Super; Digimon Story Cybersleuth 2
• Q3 Fiscal Year 2023: Elden Ring: Barbarians of the Badlands; Tales of Ascension; Tekken 8
• Q4 Fiscal Year 2023: Code Vein 2; One Punch Man: Fighters Association; Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3

DBLTAP has contacted Bandai Namco about the legitimacy of the leak and will update this story with its response.

If the leaks are legitimate, and ALPHV has access to more confidential information swiped from Bandai Namco's servers, it will likely continue to release that info should the publisher refuse to negotiate.