FromSoftware’s next major title Elden Ring was officially revealed at E3 2019, and its director Hidetaka Miyazaki shared more about the involvement of A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin.
Speaking to IGN, FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki talked about how the collaboration began:
Hidetaka Miyazaki: “It all started with me being a fan of Mr. Martin’s works. A Song of Ice & Fire and its drama adaptation Game of Thrones are both masterpieces. I am also very fond of Fever Dreams and Tuf Voyaging.
When we sat down together, it clicked right away. I proposed to make a game together, and he said yes. I was really surprised by how smoothly it all went.”
While George R.R. Martin wasn’t asked about his thoughts on the Dark Souls series, the fact that he immediately agreed on the project showed respect from the author’s side. Miyazaki also mentioned that one of Martin’s staff was apparently a fan of the Dark Souls series.
According to the director, the collaboration started with Miyazaki explaining the main theme of Elden Ring, which will have a main storey written by himself while George R.R. Martin would be responsible for the world’s mythology that players will get to unravel through fragments of environmental storytelling as we’ve seen in previous FromSoftware games.
George R.R. Martin isn’t involved in any of the writing of Elden Ring’s main story, as Miyazaki believes that the format of it being a video game could limit the potential of his storytelling. With that said, Miyazaki feels that both the main story and the lore by Martin are heavily influenced by each other.
“Thanks to Martin’s lore, Elden Ring’s world and characters naturally have a lot more depth and personality,” added Miyazaki.
Lastly, Miyazaki said there are no plans of a novelization of Martin’s mythology in Elden Ring, but he didn’t rule it out:
Hidetaka Miyazaki: “A novelization would mean that all the secrets and mystery that is hidden in our game would be revealed. From a director point of view, I’m not sure if that would be the right thing to do.”
Elden Ring is in development for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
