Facepalm: Some launch day bugs are causing problems for Elden Ring players, so its publisher, Bandai Namco, is reminding players to update to the latest graphics drivers. But owners of Intel GPUs can’t do that because Intel still hasn’t released its day-one drivers.
Can any Intel GPUs run Elden Ring? No, according to the game’s system requirements, which mandate a GTX 1060 or RX 580 at a minimum, and none of Intel’s integrated GPUs come close to that level of performance. Even after Bandai Namco warned players of performance issues and urged them to update their GPU drivers, Intel’s first discrete solutions aren’t due until next month.
We apologize for the delay in providing an update on the driver for Elden Ring. We’ve found a late breaking incompatibility in the game, and we’re working diligently with the developer to resolve it.
— Intel Graphics (@IntelGraphics) February 25, 2022
Missing drivers is a pretty lousy misstep considering that Intel partnered with Bandai Namco to develop day-one graphics drivers and advertised it all over Twitter. Intel even made a dedicated webpage for the partnership. Under where it says “enter the vast world of excitement with Intel Day-0 graphics driver support on February 24” is a link to a graphics driver from November.
Intel Graphics apologized on Twitter today in response to criticism. There’s still no word on the driver’s precise release date, but we’ll update you when something changes. In the meantime, be thankful that at least Intel didn’t make the mistake of releasing a broken driver—I’m looking at you, Polaris-era AMD—and is instead making sure that it’s polished.
