George R.R. Martin Is Working on a Video Game Called ‘Elden Ring’

Author George R.R. Martin may be best known for his epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, which received an enormous amount of attention following the HBO TV adaptation Game of Thrones, but now he’s turning his attention to a different form of entertainment, video games. Martin is currently serving as a writer for an upcoming video game named Elden Ring, which was announced earlier this month at the video game expo, known as E3.

Elden Ring is being developed by From Software, a gaming studio that is responsible for creating the critically acclaimed Dark Souls trilogy, which was set in a dark fantasy world known for its challenging gameplay and less-is-more approach to story telling. The series’ director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, who’s also directing Elden Ring, has previously stated he has a great love of fantasy, which is evident in his games, so his pairing with Martin seems like an excellent match.

Martin first became involved with the game after Miyazaki, who is a fan of Martin’s books, contacted the author with an offer to work on a project together. Miyazaki stated that he was surprised to find George was interested, and soon the two were having conversations regarding the game’s tone, themes, and game-related ideas for the game.

Martin was given free rein to develop the game’s world and lore, which Miyazaki then used to construct the main game. He described Martin’s contribution as being akin to “dungeon master’s handbook in a tabletop RPG.” Development on the game began in early 2017, meaning it’s probably coming together nicely by now.

Many fans of Martin’s work are no doubt excited to see the acclaimed author working on a video game, and we certainly can’t wait to play in a world crafted by the same man who created Westeros, however some have pointed out that time Martin spends on Elden Ring could be time spent on finishing The Winds of Winter, the long awaited sixth book in his A Song of Ice and Fire series. However, Martin did recently state that he believes he should have the book finished by 2020, indicating it’s well on its way. Fingers crossed!