Summary
One of the biggest surprises revealed at The Game Awards 2024 was theElden Ring: Nightreignannouncement, butGame of Throneswriter George R.R. Martin was later confirmed to be absent from the project’s development. Developer FromSoftware previously confirmedElden Ring 2was off the table, but spin-off games set in the same universe were alluded to. The team managed to keepElden Ring: Nightreigna secret for the most part, even though there was talk of a potential multiplayer in the fandom.
Elden Ringwas first released in 2022, welcoming players into the Lands Between to play as the Tarnished and navigate the open world in a bid to become the new Elden Lord. One staple of this Soulslike and many others is the challenging boss battles on offer, present tenfold in the 2024Shadow of the Erdtreeexpansion too, and the upcoming multiplayer will follow suit.Elden Ring: Nightreignwas announced at The Game Awards 2024and was confirmed to be released in 2025. The game will be a spin-off of the base game, which rings true with FromSoftware’s previous statement.
In an interview with IGNreleased afterElden Ring: Nightreign’s announcement, game director Junya Ishizaki discussed several details about the multiplayer. After confirmingNightreign’s story would be completely standalone but co-exist alongside the base game’s narrative, Ishizaki also revealed George R.R. Martin had no influence on the spin-off’s story or world. Despite the DLC being based on the writer’s lore from the first game,Martin had no involvement inShadow of the Erdtree’s development either. Ishizaki explained FromSoftware wanted to create a “completely separate branch of the Elden Ring story,” and the team didn’t want to encroach on fans’ emotional attachment to the main narrative.
George R.R. Martin Confirmed to Have No Influence on Elden Ring: Nightreign
Even though fantasy fans are eyeing him for the completion ofGame of Thrones’TheWinds of Winterbook, Martin provided a majority ofElden Ring’s world-building, particularly the events that occurred before the main narrative of the base game. Additionally,George R.R. Martin previously commented on theElden Ringlive-action adaptation, which is a potential project the writer may return to oversee, similar to him shepherding theHouse of the Dragonseries.
Elden Ringdirector Hidetaka Miyazaki also commented on future collaborationssimilar to the union with Martin, either reuniting with the writer on anotherElden Ringproject or something separate, or joining forces with other professionals. Miyazaki has nothing but praise for Martin, saying his world-building abilities added huge value to the Soulslike and creatively stimulated the FromSoftware team. Therefore, the writer would be welcomed back to future games with open arms.
Elden Ring
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ELDEN RING, developed by FromSoftware, Inc. and BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc., is a fantasy action-RPG adventure set within a world created by Hidetaka Miyazaki and George R.R. Martin. Danger and discovery lurk around every corner in FromSoftware’s largest game to date. Hidetaka Miyazaki - President and Game Director of FromSoftware Inc. Known for directing critically-acclaimed games in beloved franchises including Armored Core and Dark Souls.George R.R. Martin is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including the acclaimed series A Song of Ice and Fire - A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast For Crows, and A Dance with Dragons. As a writer-producer, he has worked on The Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and various feature films and pilots that were never made. He lives with the lovely Parris in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
