Hidetaka Miyazaki is inextricably linked to FromSoftware in a way that we very rarely see with directors and studios. Having directed the likes of Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and Elden Ring, Miyazaki is responsible from some of the studio’s biggest hits over the last decade and a half, and has led the teams for the overwhelming majority of its flagship releases.
Going forward, however, that may not continue to be the case. Speaking in a recent interview with IGN, Miyazaki stated that there’s a “high possibibility” that the studio “delegates responsibility of director” for future Soulslike projects to others within the studio, with Miyazaki stepping away even from supervisory duties for those titles.
“Yes, I think it’s very likely that we’ll see new directors going forward,” he said. “And I think if we do that, I’d like to step away from that supervisory role and give them full direction and full control over those projects. I think really this is the best way and the easiest way for them to flourish within that environment and with those new projects.”
Miyazaki was, of course, not the director on Dark Souls 2, though he did serve as Supervisor on project, something that, in hindsight, he feels was a mistake, calling it “one little area of regret.”
“[I enjoy] a lot of projects where I am director, so I think a supervisor role for me is just something I’m not used to and just is maybe not quite a good fit,” he said.
FromSoftware’s next big release is long-awaited expansion Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, while Miyazaki has said the studio also intends to continue making Armored Core games, even if there’s nothing new in the works just yet. Currently, there’s also no plan for an Elden Ring 2 or another expansion for the first game.