Elden Ring producers want to work with fantasy author Brandon Sanderson

Elden Ring is one of the buzziest games of the moment. Created by FromSoftware, the studio behind dark fantasy games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne, in collaboration with A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin, the game is getting rave reviews across the board. It takes the difficult, immersive gameplay that FromSoftware is famous for and situates it in a massive, brooding fantasy world, and the result is sensational.

A while back, The Stormlight Archive author Brandon Sanderson expressed his dismay over the fact that FromSoftware had chosen to work with Martin rather than him on the project. “Let me be salty,” Sanderson said. “FromSoftware decides to make a fantasy game and partner with a fantasy novelist, and they choose someone who spends his days blogging about the NFL rather than the person who has played their games since King’s Field and has listed their games as among his top 10 consistently over time. What are you thinking people?”

"They went to George [Martin] and made a game with George, and I’m like, George doesn’t play video games. George has no idea."

Sanderson was clearly joking around, although there was some truth behind his words. Unlike Martin, who by his own admission is not really into video games, Sanderson is an active gamer who has played just about every FromSoftware title out there. Name dropping King’s Field, which came out on the original Playstation all the way back in 1994, certainly establishes some nerd cred.

Apparently someone was paying attention, because the publisher behind FromSoftware’s games reached out recently to let Sanderson know they were interested in working with him too.

Bandai Namco wants to collaborate with Cosmere author Brandon Sanderson

While recording a livestream on his YouTube channel to discuss one of his recent Kickstarter Secret Projects, Sanderson opened an Elden Ring gift box he had received from Bandai Namco, the company which publishes FromSoftware’s games. In it was a map of the Elden Ring region the Lands Between, a piece of lore in a wax-sealed envelope, a woodcut portrait of the boss Malenia, a cloak, and a full-size sword. It was a total surprise for Sanderson, who knew that Bandai Namco was sending him something but expected it might just be a complimentary copy of the game.

As he was going through the items in the package, one of the team members helping him record the livestream video jokingly asked if this was FromSoftware’s way of saying sorry for hiring George R.R. Martin for Elden Ring instead of Sanderson, to which Sanderson replied that the company made the right call in hiring Martin.

That was when things got interesting, as Sanderson was instructed by one of his assistants to read the note that came with the package. The author didn’t read the whole thing on the livestream, but paraphrased that, “They are interested in perhaps doing something together, is what that says – which I am as well.”

Sanderson revealed that he actually already even had a game idea he would want to pitch the studio. “This is how I roll. I actually have a pitch for them in the back of my head… so I may have to send them my pitch and see what they think.”

The author outlined his process for developing his pitch idea. “If I were ever going to do a soulsborne game, what would I do? You guys know what happened when I thought, ‘I wonder what I would do if I ever wrote a Magic: The Gathering story?’ I spent four years developing a Magic: The Gathering story, so when Magic contacted me and said, ‘Hey, do you want to write a story’, I’m like, ‘Yes, I already have one and I will write it,'” the author said, referring to the tie-in novel he wrote for Wizards of the Coast in 2018, Children of the Nameless.

"In the same way, I’ve been thinking, ‘What would I do if I did a soulsborne sort of game.’ Obviously, I don’t get to decide that, but I just have it in the back of my head. So maybe you guys will hear something from me. I have some ideas; I always have ideas."

Whether this partnership between Sanderson and FromSoftware comes to fruition, we’ll just have to wait and see.

See Ming-Na Wen in new live-action Elden Ring trailer

In other Elden Ring news, The Book of Boba Fett star Ming-Na Wen recently featured in a live-action trailer for the game. It shows the actor checking items off her bucket list, until she arrives at “seek the Elden Ring.” She then fiercely recites a bunch of jargon from the game while scenes of various monsters and battles play out on screen.

It’s a little cheesy, but hey, ’tis all in good fun. Ming-Na Wen played The Book of Boba Fett’s most badass character, and we certainly wouldn’t want to face her in the Lands Between or anywhere else.

Elden Ring is out now, so if you feel a need to beat your head against the most difficult and epic game on the market, you need only take the leap and descend into madness.

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