Elden Ring fans grow closer to going hollow after each day without any news about the game's status. Some have even begun to question whether it actually exists or if the E3 presentation where it was announced last year was simply some kind of shared fever dream. As tragic as it is, there's a cruel sort of irony in the lack of news surrounding this game for one big reason: the involvement of George R.R. Martin. When it was first revealed that he would be working alongside Hidetaka Miyazaki on the project, fans were thrilled, but none could have predicted what has happened since.
For those that may not be aware, Martin is best known for his epic fantasy novels A Song of Ice and Fire that would eventually go on to spawn the hit television show Game of Thrones. Though the books had their fair share of supporters, they really kicked off after Game of Thrones' success, cementing George R.R. Martin as one of the greats and helping him get a spot on the team for Elden Ring. Unfortunately, he seems to have a problem with deadlines, as fans of his book series already knew and those of the television series learned after Season 8 was less than well received. And in that way, it is ironic that Elden Ring has seemingly slowed down on its news cycle.
George R.R. Martin and A Song of Ice and Fire
The first book in A Song of Ice and Fire released over two decades ago back in 1996. Since then, every few years or so, Martin released another book up until the fifth novel was published in 2011. Now it has been nine years since then and fans are still wondering what happened to the sixth book in the series, and there is even a seventh book planned to come eventually that many are waiting on. Recently Martin claimed to be making progress on book six, however.
This nearly decade long wait has understandably pushed the existence of book six into the realm of myth and meme, and many feel it is a large reason why the eighth season of Game of Thrones was so disliked. Up until that point, the show had some solid source material to base its events off of, but once that source material ran out things went downhill. With the show over and the book still nowhere in sight, fans are left hanging with no way to interact with the world of Westeros aside from an upcoming spin-off show.
George R.R. Martin and Elden Ring
To be fair, it should be said that Martin's role in Elden Ring is most likely already complete, and odds are he is not the cause behind the hold up. More than anything, this is just a funny coincidence that yet another project he is involved in is finding itself slowed to a halt. Even if he did play a role in slowing down Elden Ring, there are a number of other factors that contribute to this as well, and he's certainly not in charge of communicating with fans about its status.
Elden Ring is going through some copyright troubles among other things, and it could still be quite some time before the game gets released. Fans don't seem to mind waiting, but it would be nice to get some kind of confirmation on behalf of FromSoftware in regards to whether or not it is still in development. While it's fun to entertain the idea that Martin's involvement could be the reason for the complete lack of Elden Ring news, it simply wouldn't make sense. Nevertheless, fans can't help but laugh at the ironic parallel between themselves and those waiting for the sixth book in Martin's series.
Elden Ring is currently in development for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
