Elden Ring’s publisher wants to work with author Brandon Sanderson and he ‘has a Soulsborne pitch’

Elden Ring and Dark Souls publisher Bandai Namco has reached out to American fantasy author Brandon Sanderson about a possible future collaboration, he’s revealed.

Sanderson, who is best known for his Mistborn and Stormlight Archive fantasy novels, unboxed a package he’d received from the game publisher during a live stream this week.

The author received a large Elden Ring parcel, which included a sword, cloak and other merchandise based on the From Software game, along with a note from Bandai Namco.

“They are interested in perhaps doing something together, is what that says,” Sanderson said on the stream. “I am as well, actually. This is how I roll: I actually have a pitch for them in the back of my head… so I may have to send them my pitch and see what they think.”

The author went on to reveal that he’d actually already thought up a pitch for a Soulsborne game, which is the name given by fans to encompass From Software’s Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro and Elden Ring series.

From’s latest release, Elden Ring, is itself a collaboration with fantasy author George R. R. Martin. Sanderson has previously argued he should have been the one asked to write Elden Ring instead of Martin.

Sanderson said: “I always have a pitch for everything. That’s the thing. Like, ‘if I were ever going to do a Soulsborne game, what would I do?’ You guys know what happened when I thought, ‘I wondered what I would do if I ever wrote a Magic: The Gathering story?’

“I spent four years developing a Magic: The Gathering story so that when Magic contacted me and said, ‘hey, do you want to write a story?’ I could say, ‘yes, I already have one, and I will write it!” And I did.

“The same way, I’ve been thinking, ‘what would I do if I did a Soulsborne sort of game?’ Obviously, I don’t get to decide that, right? But I have it in the back of my head, so maybe you guys will hear something from me. I have some ideas… I always have ideas.”

Developer From Software is an independent studio, but its long collaborated with Bandai Namco on games such as the Dark Souls and Armored Core series.

Last year Brandon Sanderson claimed that he’d already been working on a video game for “several years” and that he’d expected it to be announced that year, which it seemingly wasn’t.

Sanderson, whose critically acclaimed Mistborn novels received a Fortnite crossover in May 2021, argued during a live stream earlier this year that he should’ve been asked to work on Elden Ring.

“Most of [these requests] go to the agent these days, but sometimes they pop up for me, but let me be salty,” he said.

“From Software decides to make a fantasy game and partner with a fantasy novelist, right?

“And they choose someone who spends his days blogging about the NFL, rather than the person who has played their games since King’s Field, and has listed their games among his top 10 consistently over time? What are you thinking, people?

“If you don’t know, they went to George, and made a game with George, and I’m like, George doesn’t play video games. George has no idea. So anyway, there you go.”