Dark Souls Director Becomes President of From Software.
May. 21, 2014Dark Souls Director Becomes President of From Software
Today it was revealed in anofficial press releasethat From Software would be undergoing managerial changes, and thatDark Soulsdirector Hidetaka Miyazaki will step into a new position as the studio’s president.
It hasn’t been made public how Miyazaki’s promotion will affect the future of his direct input on game design.
Miyazaki isn’t the only member of From Software receiving a promotion;Demon’s Soulsproducer Masanori Takeuchi has been promoted to senior managing director.
This news bodes well for the future of From Software and the Souls series in general, and it will be exciting to see what new developments and projects come down the pipeline with Miyazaki at the helm.
J.C. Wigriff
Writer, guitarist, gamer, alchemist. Editor at Fextralife.com, and host of the INT Spec Podcast. Be sure to follow him on twitter.
The following is an excerpt of a blog article.
This is my concern exactly. While sheer difficulty was never his intent, he utilized difficulty to build intense/emotional moments. Now, there very well may be nobody designing games who thinks like this.
wanted to comment on this earlier but was at work..
Crazy! I think it is great for him to be given the honors, as he has certainly earned a promotion, but I fear that this will take him out of the directors chair indefinitely, and his wonderfully-identifiable mark (DeS and dks1) will be a thing of the past in From games (well not including, of course, the rumored project beast or whatever title he has been working)
But he will be in a position to make sure that every title From produces falls into his general style and direction, and hopefully they realize that his new over-arching responsibilities should take second seat whenever a dark fantasy rpg is in production so he can take the reins
It also could be seen as an indicator in the shift in the style of games that have been the status quo in the past decade. If a new owner of Fromsoft wants this guy to be the new president of From, then it stands to reason they see the market potential for difficult/challenging games and want that to be a new standard
or atleast it will further facilitate the trend into the mainstream and not just indie developers
Merged repeat threads
I think Kadokawa has the business acumen to let FromSoft do its thing and not interfere too much, which is great for From cause it opens up an new resource pool. And as for Miyazaki being president..while that might take him out of a direct role in game creation it will probably up the overall quality of games FS puts out, I would think. (in my opinion)
It’s confirmed on IGN as well.
Interesting.. but a success with one series doesn’t make you a capable head of company. I’m reassured the guy will take a good route with games- i.e. quality over mass appeal, but it could be harmful to the company if he’s too stubborn on that
I’m going to get really pumped up and excited when I say that…
I’m going to reserve judgment for now. I definitely think he’s someone who deserves respect and earned the position (as far as I can tell, I don’t work there) but who knows how this will play out.
PROS:-Knows the value of immersion in gaming-Has been the driving force behind complex and engaging worlds-Is willing to take risks/deviate from accepted practices and will try to invent mechanics that fit the game, rather than make the game fit mechanics-Seems more concerned with a complete experience than catering to the masses
I don’t have a list of cons but I will throw out there that DSII did make many improvements in my opinion over the other two Souls games. It may be simply due to having a bigger budget but who knows
Yes, I know he might not be involved in creating games as he was being the director, but alas he can thou share his vision to the other people responsible for that.As new leader he will be able to share his thoughts and experience in creating new, intriguing and challenging games.It may nothing to do with the soul series, it could be even new IP’s.I do believe this was a step on the right direction from Kadokawa and I’m not raising my expectations to high, but I do think this was a great call.As I said before, let’s wait and see what happens next.
Well that is good news indeed.
Although he wont be directing anything he will be in a position to appoint those he feels will do a good job.
I heard From is a very small company (like 200 or something employees) so being the president without many underlings may mean that he as more influence then he did with DkS II. Even while being the president does not mean that he cannot direct a game. Also inb4 kadokawa produced Dark/Demon Souls anime.
While of course we cannot know how From as a company prefers to operate, this is actually a fairly reasonable and very likely assumption.
This doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good thing for Soul Series, since he is the President and not a Director, he won’t be doing any more hands on work with the crew, his position is the welfare of entire company. Which might be even, making the game easier than it is now. If anything this means he will be even more uninvolved from the series than Dks2.
Holy…. … Shit.
This, this is good news.
My thoughts exactly.I am still on the fence about Kadokawa owning From, but I do think that this was a great move and somehow give us the chance to expect good games in the future and even new IPs.
I’m really intrigued by this Project Beast rumor, so let’s see what happens.
Though I’m still maintaining a neutral opinion of Kadokawa, they’ve definitely earned some points with me for that move. I just hope Miyazaki won’t be overwhelmed by this or something.
Wow…I just read that from IGN and I think it is great news.Miyazaki as President of From Software may ensure more quality games souls related or not.What you guys think about it?
The article belongs to Luke Karmalli from IGN.
Hidetaka Miyazaki, the man responsible for directing both Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, has been appointed From Software president.ADVERTISEMENT
The news comes courtesy of Dengeki Online (via NeoGAF) and takes effect immediately. The appointment was made by new owner Kadokawa, which also announced former president Naotoshi Jin will remain with the company in an advisory capacity.Namco Bandai Financials Reveal Dark Souls 2 Sales FiguresThough he enjoyed tenure on the Armored Core franchise, it’s for his role directing both Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls that Miyazaki is best known. When the decision was made with Dark Souls II to appoint new directors, Miyazaki stepped back into an advisory role and has since been hard at work on a new game.Though we don’t know for certain, speculation is pointing towards this new title being Project Beast, a possible follow-up to the original Demon’s Souls that may or may not be headed to PS4 exclusively. Seeing as Miyazaki has previously made his opposition to continuing Dark Souls’ sequels known, the decision to mix up the formula with guns and the like, as leaked Beast screenshots seem to show, could be very exciting indeed.With E3 just around the corner, hopefully we won’t have to wait much longer to find out more.
Still a better ending than ME3.
insert appropriate videogame conspiracy here
