Brandon Sanderson Says Moonbreaker Collab Isn't Like George R. R. Martin and Elden Ring
Fantasy writers teaming up with game studios is seemingly on the rise – just ask Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin, who famously partnered with From Software on Elden Ring. But writer Brandon Sanderson is doing things a bit differently than Martin and From when it comes to his partnership with Unknown Worlds on the upcoming Moonbreaker.
In an interview with IGN, we asked Sanderson, author of Mistborn and the Cosmere fictional universe, how he got involved with the creators of Subnautica on the digital miniatures game, and he said his collaboration with the team was more extensive than you might think.
According to Sanderson, Unknown Worlds approached him with the offer to help build an "optimistic" science-fantasy world for a game they had prototyped mechanically entirely with placeholder art from the studio's past games. Sanderson came back with two pitches, both of which he already developed on his own separately but didn't think were suitable for his existing Cosmere universe. Unknown Worlds chose the more ambitious of the two pitches, Moonbreaker, and a new partnership was born.
From there, Sanderson and Unknown Worlds communicated weekly, growing Moonbreaker's universe together and forming a true "hand-in-hand" partnership. Sanderson created things like the lore for the world and its initial cast of 10 captains alongside gameplay development, with the two halves influencing each other. This constant contact is a bit different than the last fantasy writer, game studio pairing.
“I’ve read about what George [R.R. Martin] did on Elden Ring and it was kind of like he sent off something into the void and eventually a game came back” Sanderson jokes. “That was not the case here. It was a weekly interaction, and the
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