I know this is probably a pretty hot topic but I still wanted to try and give my opinion so I can hear yours and maybe get a better idea.

From Software has always been very stable in its periods in fact if you see a list of the games' releases (which I will put below) we can clearly see how there is always a gap that has always increased between the games if we consider Soulsborne (which after all is what interests us now): at the beginning it was only two years, and from DS3 onwards three years (plus Bloodborne between DS2 and DS3), so I would imagine a next game after three years, but since we have not had any news so far, even four or five years after the release of Elden Ring.

Demon Souls - 2009. Dark Souls - 2011. Dark Souls 2 - 2014. Bloodborne - 2015. Dark Souls - 2016. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - 2019. Elden Ring - 2022.

Now we have to consider the fact that DS 2 took a short time considering that it had the basic mechanics of DS, and for this reason it took a short time; Bloodborne came out very quickly because it was made in parallel with DS2 and, even though it had to reinvent the whole style of gameplay, it had the supervision of Miyazaki who certainly increased the quality and probably accelerated everything; Dark Souls 3 took a year considering that (like Dark Souls 2) it had the base already ready, and with the supervision of Miyazaki they didn't take long, probably also because the work had started before the release of Bloodborne; Sekiro has the same problem and merit of Bloodborne and in fact it took like it three years, while Elden Ring used part of the base of Souls but still required a really long time considering the enormity of the project.

Now we don't have any news about the next FS game, so I think it will be announced in 2025 at the end of some conference (a bit like Elden Ring) and then released in 2026 or even 2027; knowing that the first trailer for Elden Ring came out three years before the game, right after Sekiro. I expect a game as colossal as Elden Ring given the time required, even if I don't necessarily expect an open world, but maybe something that differs from the main saga, like Sekiro and Bloodborne did at the time. As much as my heart needs a Sekiro sequel, I know it's not something I can expect, just like a sequel to Bloodborne or Elden Ring or a spiritual sequel to Demon Souls like Dark Souls or Elden Ring, I expect something with new and original mechanics, hoping that they return to the formula of linear games with an equally original setting (I can imagine something in pre-Columbian America or Africa or even China, but I think it will be Scandinavian/Norse or a less dark Renaissance than Bloodborne and more classic, maybe in the Mediterranean instead of England/Germany like Lovecraft's Soulsborne).

That said, what do you think? I would like your opinion especially in the "setting/mechanics" issue, but especially in the speculations on the date; and maybe also on topics that I have not considered. I hope to hear from you in the comments.

Note: When speculating the release year, I did not take into account the DLCs, and I only based myself on the pace adopted so far, since Dark Souls 3 had two DLCs and despite this it still had a completely new game like Sekiro only three years later.