Miyazaki: Shadow of the Erdtree DLC “Closing the Loop” on George R.R. Martin’s Contribution to Elden Ring

While Elden Ring will forever be known as one of FromSoftware’s best work, some might not know that author George R.R. Martin — yes, the creator of A Song of Ice and Fire — was involved in the game as well. It was originally announced as a big selling point early on that the Game of Thrones creator was involved in creating Elden Ring’s world, though in the following few months and leading up to release, it was quietly downplayed by both parties.

While Shadow of the Erdtree features new story missions, George R.R. Martin didn’t contribute anything new to it, as game director Hidetaka Miyazaki confirms that the expansion was something FromSoftware originally wanted to be in the base game, but it just “didn’t fit.”  Even if that was the case, Hidetaka says that the Shadow of the Erdtree lore was also created by Martin, and the DLC essentially closes the loop when it comes to Martin’s contribution to Elden Ring.

“Just to make sure there’s no confusion among the audience, I want to reiterate that the story of the DLC, it’s not that George R.R. Martin has comprised anything new or different from what he had contributed in the base game.

If anything, the lore and mythology of the world that you see in Elden Ring, he had even created the lore that covers the DLC — it’s just that we couldn’t put it in the original game. So we’re almost closing the loop in terms of his contribution in the form of the DLC.”

In case you didn’t know, Shadow of the Erdtree is the first — and only — expansion planned for Elden Ring. As for what FromSoftware’s next game is, the studio hasn’t revealed that yet, though Miyazaki did note that the combination of freedom in Elden Ring and difficulty is a “big hint” of the studio’s next project.

As for George R.R. Martin, the sixth novel in the A Song of Ice and Fire series titled “The Winds of Winter” is still being written, with the last entry being “A Dance with Dragons” released back in 2011.

Given Elden Ring’s success, let’s hope George R.R. Martin collaborates with a studio once again for another video game project. I mean, that’s after finishing Winds of Winter first, of course.

[Source: CNET]

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