Amidst widespread layoffs, rising development costs, increasingly protracted development cycles, and more, the games industry is looking more destabilized than it has in a long time, but some studios seem to be immune to that. One prominent example is Dark Souls and Elden Ring developer FromSoftware, a studio that has not only not had to resort to laying off staff, but is actually growing increasingly larger, and continues to put out universally acclaimed, commercially successful titles at a rate that has, frankly, been startling.
In a recent interview with IGN, asked about what FromSoftware’s magic formula is that has allowed it to flourish in an industry that’s been struggling, Hidetaka Miyazaki – director of Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Elden Ring, and more – said it’s really as simple as being “blessed with a great staff who love to create these games and who are, I think you could say, efficient at creating games.”
According to Miyazaki, the key to that efficiency is being able to quickly make decisions for the project in the earlier stages of its development.
“I think one area is we’re able to understand quickly what we want to make and [are] able to make these decisions early on in development,” he said. “We’re able to iterate and we’re able to leave things on the chopping board. We’re able to go ahead with ideas and a quick pace. We’re able to quickly change and quickly decide on the kind of game we want to make.”
Next up for FromSoftware is Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, which is going to be the studio’s biggest expansion to date. It’s due out for PC and consoles on June 21.
Miyazaki, who has served as director on the vast majority of FromSoftware’s flagship games over the last decade and half, has also said there’s “a high possibility” that he won’t direct the studio’s next big Soulslike game.
