Bandai Namco, the publisher of the Elden Ring, has expressed interest in working with Brandon Sanderson, the author of Mistborn and the Wheel of Time, who appears to want to work with developer FromSoftware in the same way that George R.R. Martin did.
Sanderson unboxed an Elden Ring gift package from Bandai Namco in a YouTube stream spotted by PC Gamer, which included a message from the publisher expressing interest in working with him.
Sanderson had previously made light of developer FromSoftware’s decision to collaborate with Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin over him, describing himself as someone who spends his days blogging about the NFL rather than someone who has played their games since King’s Field.
Someone off-camera asked if the package was an apology for choosing Martin, and Sanderson laughed and said no, that they should’ve hired George instead, but another off-camera voice told him to read the note that came with the gift.
Sanderson claims that they are both interested in doing something together and that he is as well. He has a pitch for them brewing in the back of his mind. So he might have to send his pitch to them and see what they think.
Sanderson compared the potential collaboration to his work for the Magic: The Gathering trading card game a few years ago, claiming that he was already working on a story when publisher Wizards of the Coast approached him about writing for them.
Bandai Namco also sent the gift package to other influencers and media outlets, but it’s unclear whether the note sent to Sanderson came from FromSoftware (which has the most clout in the development process) or the publisher.
While Bandai Namco publishes and is closely associated with the Dark Souls trilogy and Elden Ring, other recent FromSoftware releases, such as Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice from Activision and Bloodborne from Sony, have had different publishers.
Last year, Sanderson’s interest in gaming collaborations was demonstrated by his collaboration with Fortnite, which saw his Mistborn character Kelsier appear as a skin in the game.
While Martin did not write Elden Ring’s story, he did contribute to it. He gave director Hidetaka Miyazaki and FromSoftware text samples that served as the world’s backbone, including some of its history and key figures.
Elden Ring was released on February 25 to great acclaim in the United States and Europe, and fans are discovering some strange secrets, such as a pair of fancy underwear and a hidden wall that only opens after 50 hits, as is typical of FromSoftware games.
People are constantly looking for new ways to interact with the game, such as someone modding Elden Ring characters into Tekken, speedrunners competing to complete the game as quickly as possible, and a streamer letting his Twitch chat play while he slept.