As a company president and lead game designer, Hidetaka Miyazaki sees a need for risk-taking in order to maintain the success of From Software's games.
“It’s actually the opposite. If we avoided risks, we wouldn’t have positioned [Dark Souls 3] to be a turning point in the series and an end to the current storyline.”
—From Software president and Dark Souls lead designer Hidetaka Miyazaki in response to a query on if From Software sees a need to play it safe instead of taking risks.
Hidetaka Miyazaki walks a fine line in his position as a developer. As both president of From Software and the overseer of the Dark Souls franchise, he’s responsible for both safely steering a company and pushing the boundaries on games that have enjoyed both critical and financial success.
But where other companies might seek to find a stable formula for maintaining economic stability, Miyazaki tells Kotaku’s Patrick Klepek that From Software’s success comes from a constant desire to take risks and work with the unknown.
As a designer, he says he also isn’t 100 percent sure in every decision he makes, but he says he’s able to deal with uncertainty by trusting in the vision he sets out for in his games.
“I don’t think I get everything right with my decisions, but I do have faith in the decisions I make based on the visions I hold,” Miyazaki tells Klepek. “In order to make my vision come to reality, I place importance in various feedback including those coming from test players.”
Klepek and Miyazaki also discuss where the designer gets his inspiration for his challenging games, and how he’s changed after working on the same series for so many years. Of particular note, Miyazaki says that much of his inspiration comes from books and a deep passion for reading. “[Recently], I found myself enjoying the book, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories. Personally speaking, it’s quite interesting to see how emotionally invested I am, in a good way, reading the book.”
For more insights on the future of From Software and Dark Souls, be sure to read Klepek’s full interview with the designer.
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