On Tuesday, a publication called Nexus Point News published a headline for what looked to be a major piece of entertainment news: “EXCLUSIVE: Alex Garland Set To Direct ‘Elden Ring’ Film For A24.” The article claimed that Elden Ring “is expected to be Garland’s next film” and that shooting is expected to start in 2026.

But don’t get your hopes up: soon after the article was published, Nexus Point News pulled it, and the publication won’t say why. How this article made the rounds is an interesting case study in the way news travels on the internet.

We first saw the Nexus Point News article from a Wario64 post on X. Generally, Wario64 is a great account to follow to see breaking news in video games almost as soon as it happens. And the account is quite popular, with more than 1 million followers on X. But none of us at The Verge had ever heard of Nexus Point News, let alone recognized it as a place that reliably breaks entertainment news, so something didn’t seem right.

(Another recent Nexus Point News “exclusive” includes a potential cast member “being eyed” for one of the male leads of Star Wars: Starfighter, but the article includes an update that says “a LucasFilm spokesperson has denied this reporting.”)

So I messaged Wario64, asking why he reposted it. He said that the person who posted a thread on the gaming forum ResetEra claimed the site was reliable and that “I guess I’m sharing cause I too think it’s absurd lol.”

That thread appears to be this one, where the poster says, in a reply to somebody asking “bro what the fuck is this source lmaooo,” that “Nexus point news is pretty reliable, they are breaking more and more news before the traditional trades.”

Soon after, I refreshed the Nexus Point News story and saw that it had been taken down. I told Wario64 that we were looking into the story on our end and about its removal. Soon after, Wario64 posted about the removal and deleted the original tweet.

Then, I emailed Nexus Point News’ press line to see if somebody could say what was going on. Demet Koc, the publication’s editor-in-chief, replied two minutes later but declined to comment.

A24’s Sophia Shin also declined to comment on the record.

The possibility of an Elden Ring adaptation seems likely. FromSoftware said in early 2022 that it hoped to expand the franchise “beyond the realm of games.” George R.R. Martin, who provided the “mythos” for the world of Elden Ring, hinted last year that some kind of adaptation might be in the works. And FromSoftware is about to release Elden Ring Nightreign, a multiplayer-focused spinoff, so announcing a film around now would make some sense. But for the moment, there’s nothing official about an Elden Ring movie.

A ResetEra admin locked the thread about the article and another one. “For a site no one’s heard of, they sure have a lot of exclusives,” the admin said.