Martin’s world and lore for Elden Ring are still the foundation for its DLC.
Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki has discussed George R.R. Martin’s involvement in the game’s upcoming DLC, Shadow of the Erdtree. When Elden Ring initially launched in 2022, one of its main selling points was the collaboration with George R.R. Martin, known for the Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) series. Martin has since clarified that he has not been actively working on Elden Ring for some time, as his contributions were made at the beginning of the project. This remains true for Shadow of the Erdtree.
In an interview with Famitsu (via TheGamer), FromSoftware president and director Miyazaki addressed whether Martin had contributed to the new DLC in any way. Miyazaki explained that Martin’s earlier work was still instrumental in establishing the story and lore that would be expanded upon in the DLC. However, Martin did not work directly on writing new content for the expansion.
“The DLC’s world and story were inspired by the mythology that [Martin] created for the main title,” Miyazaki stated. “The DLC was part of the inspiration taken from his mythology for the main title, so no additional writing was done specifically for the DLC.”
This information from Miyazaki is not surprising, considering Martin’s initial collaboration on Elden Ring. It is likely that there was additional lore associated with Elden Ring that FromSoftware wanted to explore further in the expansion. Despite Martin’s earlier involvement, he still played a significant role in creating Shadow of the Erdtree.
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, announced a year ago, is set to release on June 21, 2024. The expansion will be available on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and PC. A Collector’s Edition, featuring a statue of the expansion’s new bosses, is also being offered by publisher Bandai Namco.