by John Ryan
If you work in game narrative writing for an extended period, you will eventually be working in someone else’s intellectual property (IP). Whether you write for cultural titans like James Bond or Star Wars or if it’s something smaller (like your friend’s D&D campaign), you’ll be tasked with writing “inside the lines” of their world. This comes with challenges as a writer but also opportunities to bring your own voice to the table.
This article is about game writing, specifically. I can’t speak about what it’s like to write for IPs in other media, but I can talk about my experiences writing for IPs in gaming (Horizon, Guild Wars, Iron Man, Fable, Destiny).
It’s the Money
Games have always been attracted to big IPs (there have been Star Trek video games since 1971!), but after the 2022 financial downturn, established IPs became the safe bet for game development, whether the games were sequels, reboots, or remasters. The most anticipated game of 2026 is a sequel: Grand Theft Auto 6. And it’s not alone. Check out how many of this year’s games are sequels, ports, expansions, compilations, or somehow connected to an established IP.
For the foreseeable future, well-known IPs are going to loom large in the gaming development space.
Knowing the IP
This is a self-selecting issue during the application process. When you apply for a role (or if you are recruited), you’ll be interviewed and tested on what you know about the IP and if you would be a good fit for writing in the IP’s space. You need to know the difference between Jedi and Sith, between Imperium and Tau, between minotaur and mind flayer. Without having that foundational knowledge, you won’t be taken seriously. The IP’s stakeholders need to know they can trust you with their baby. If you have IP knowledge and the writing chops, you’ll be set up better than a lion’s share of the candidates.
Mastering the Foundation
One of the biggest mistakes I see from younger game writers is immediately leaping in with their ideas for elaborate missions, epic quest arcs, and complex characters on their first day, even before their first narrative debrief.
In the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, we meet aspiring chefs under the tutelage of sushi master Jiro Ono who must first be able to properly squeeze a hot towel before they can learn to cut and prepare a fish. After ten years of fish work, they’re allowed to cook eggs, and only after 200 failures did one young chef gain Ono’s approval.
In game writing, you won’t have the luxury of 200 tries to get a scene right, but the fundamentals apply: After you’re hired to work on an IP, you’ll always need to show you can write in the IP’s voice. The good news is, IPs will usually have reference materials (for example, story bibles, pronunciation guides for VO performers, timelines) to read if you have questions about the spelling of a name, how a character might sound when they talk, and when certain events happen.
This is a crucial point where you talk to other writers, stakeholders, and anyone else who has ties to the game’s narrative. Don’t assume you are the expert. I learned a lot more about how a studio approaches an IP’s narrative from conversations than reading internal wikis. Your goal here is twofold: learning how the studio works, and becoming a subject matter expert on the IP and everything set in place before you showed up.
Only once you can prove you have a mastery over what came before will you be trusted to add your own voice and ideas into the mix.
Yes, You Have a Voice
Once you get the IP down and you have gained the IP stakeholder’s trust, you’ll be able to bring your voice and ideas to the table. This can take the form of pitching original quests, creating new characters or fleshing out existing ones, and contributing to the lore of the IP. Typically, you need to deliver a brief for your new contributions to your narrative lead (the person on the team who is in charge of the game’s narrative vision) on what you want to add, but this is the point where your hard work starts to pay off and you’re trusted to put your stamp on things.
The most important thing you need to do at this stage is keep communicating with your narrative lead to make sure you are on the right path with your idea because…
Everything Is in Service, Everything Is Experience
Remember that everything you create and add to the game is in service to the IP. Your work is yours, but it takes place in someone else’s sandbox. In game development, you will work with anywhere from 2 to 2,000 other developers in various disciplines (hopefully) rowing in the same direction. Everyone works toward a unified vision but still gets to add their own insights and imagination into what they make.
Lastly, writing for someone else’s IP can help you with your own writing. It gives you experience with pacing, voice, and lore, just as some creatives got their start writing fanfic or coding game mods to develop the chops and confidence to work on their own stuff while understanding what it takes to make and release a game. Being able to show voice mastery across different genres and franchises will prove you’re versatile to work anywhere.
Writing for someone else’s IP comes down to trust and competency. Once you get your foot in the door, it’s on you to show your professionalism and attention to detail for the assignment.
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John Ryan is a veteran game writer/narrative designer who has worked on franchises including Fable, Horizon, Marvel’s Iron Man, Guild Wars, Destiny, Forza, and Lily’s Garden. He’s brought stories to life across multiple genres and platforms, including VR and XR. He is currently working on unannounced projects but is always looking for the next adventure. He currently lives near Seattle with his wife, their cat, and a growing backlog of games on his Steam account. You can read more about him and his work at his site: johnryanwrites.com.