Japanese publisher Bandai Namco has said that Armored Core 6 is a chance to for the series to expand its audience.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Bandai Namco Europe CEO Arnaud Muller said that while it's not expecting the mech title to do the same numbers as Elden Ring, that game has helped Armored Core 6 launch to a larger audience than before.

"This is a big step up in this franchise," he said. "We are not going to be able to match Elden Ring numbers but we will way surpass what Armored Core previous games have done."

He added: "We have a great game in our hands, the gameplay, the battle system is very loyal to what FromSoftware fans are used to, so we really want to take this IP further in the relationship with FromSoftware. My expectation is that people who have discovered [their] games via Elden Ring will enjoy Armored Core."

Muller added that Elden Ring has become a seal of quality of what developer FromSoftware is capable of as a studio. 

"This is an opportunity for us to truly widen the audience of the Armored Core games," Muller said.

"My ambitions are not on par with Elden Ring, but our ambitions are way bigger than the previous Armored Core games."

He added: "Thanks to Elden Ring, FromSoftware has become a seal, a guarantee of quality, and therefore people will see that the Metacritic of this game is great, [that] it's challenging but very rewarding, [and say] 'I wanna try that game'."

Armored Core 6 launches today, Thursday, August 24th. It's the first entry in the franchise since 2013.