Bandai Namco has an announcement for all Elden Ring players: the major expansion "Shadow of the Eldestree" is less than two weeks away from being implemented on June 20.

Minor spoilers follow:

Back in February, Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki said that players would access Shadow of the Eldestree from Michaela's cocoon in the palace of the Blood King Mogue. Naturally, Morg does not take kindly to you messing around with Michaela, so the first step in the process is to toddle off to Morg.

And therein lies the problem. As streamer Cohh Carnage pointed out, less than 38% of Elden Ring players on Steam have earned the achievement to collect Mohg's head.

And here's the Bandai PSA:

Now, these numbers need a little more analysis. First, and most obviously, since it only represents Steam, it is probably a good barometer of the overall situation, but it does not accurately reflect the situation of console players, who may or may not be more conscientious god killers than we are.

Nor does it mean that two-thirds of Steam players are totally unprepared for the Erdtree expansion; Mohg is an optional boss, and it is possible (and indeed very easy) to finish the game without encountering him. For players who have passed him by in plain sight before becoming Lord Elden, it shouldn't be a big deal to clean house at the Mohgwyn Palace. I didn't catch up with him until much later in the game, at which point Mogh was very easily removed by the old Azure comet.

And of course there will be players who haven't gotten there yet: they started playing last week, or they've really put in the time. Give it time, and you'll get there.

In any case, it's not that unusual to have to stomp out a mog before entering Shadow of the Eldest Trees. Game expansions are usually only accessible after the player has made some progress: the excellent expansion for The Witcher 3, "Blood and Wine," for example, is only accessible after the player has advanced well into the main storyline. There are exceptions, such as CD Projekt's other big title (you can create a new character and jump straight into "Cyberpunk 2077": Phantom Liberty), but generally speaking, it's no surprise that you need to be knee-deep in the Elden ring campaign (or, more specifically, the blood and guts of a Morg). It stands to reason that one needs to be knee-deep in Elden Ring's campaign (or, more specifically, in the blood and entrails of Mogg).

However, if you want to dive in the moment "Shadow of the Erdtree" goes live, you'll want to bring the hammer down on the mogues beforehand so that you can go straight to the good part. The message seems to already be getting through to players: less than 24 hours after Cohh Carnage's tweet, the percentage of Elden Ring players on Steam who have kicked Mohg's butt has already risen to 38.7%. I'm starting to feel sorry for him.