FromSoftware Is Cultivating New Talent In An Era Of Layoffs

Elden Ring’s upcoming expansion, Shadow of the Erdtree, promises to be one of FromSoftware’s biggest DLCs to date. After the success of the base game, players are expecting the company to knock it out of the park with the DLC as well. Much of Elden Ring’s critical acclaim can be credited to Hidetaka Miyazaki, the president of FromSoftware. 

He’s been the director for a ton of the company’s titles, including all-time greats like Bloodborne and Dark Souls. But as he has mentioned in recent interviews, that might change in the future. This isn’t because Miyazaki is planning on stepping away from directorial roles at the company. But rather, because FromSoftware has been cultivating talent who can now work on new projects as directors.

This is in stark contrast to a number of Western game development studios. Some of which have had to undergo significant layoffs recently. While the future of many of these Western studios might be hazy, it’s clear FromSoftware has a proper plan on how they are going to handle future projects. Even without Miyazaki at the helm, the company will likely continue to dish out great projects for years to come. Here’s why.

A Focus On The Long-Term

FromSoftware has shown that by focusing more on cultivating talent in the company rather than simply maximizing profits in the short term, the company is planning ahead for the future. Miyazaki mentioned during a recent interview with IGN that over the years, the company has had executives who’ve been taking on more and more responsibilities at the studio.

They have now reached a point where these executives are capable of being full-fledged directors. In some capacity, they can take the load off of Miyazaki’s shoulders too. Since he’ll continue to direct games as well, it really does look like FromSoftware will be able to make a lot more titles moving forward. This might also mean the company will be able to bring back some of its older titles.

An example of this is their recent game, Armored Core 6. This was directed by Masaru Yamamura, allowing Miyazaki to presumably work on the Elden Ring DLC. It’s likely that with a number of new directors available to them, FromSoftware currently has multiple games in development. Miyazaki said as much during his interview.

We have several of these up-and-coming directors who we’re able to delegate these projects to, and we’re able to have multiple projects on the go at once.”

A Chance To Diversify

By being able to tackle more projects at once, FromSoftware is opening up the potential to diversify its portfolio. The company’s tried-and-true Souls formula will likely continue to be evolved and improved upon in the future. But at least now we know that its more off-shoot titles like Armored Core will also be mainstays. This might also allow FromSoftware to bring back some of its classics like the King’s Field series.

FromSoftware has also shown the studio is not afraid of dabbling in new IPs. It’s possible Miyazaki might handle these newer works himself, while sequels to their existing games are worked on by other directors. Doing so will help the studio stand out more in the market too. The studio will be able to carve out an identity beyond just being the team that utilizes its Souls formula over and over again. It’s tough to say for sure what FromSoftware’s future looks like. But in that regard, Miyazaki had this to say. 

What I foresee in this climate (at least for us) is a FromSoftware where games can be directed by others, not only myself … I do see this as a time for us to continue to grow and continue to cultivate this talent, and [release] these games for as long as we can.”

For fans, this is about as close to an ideal scenario as you can get. It means they will continue to get the high-quality content they have come to expect from FromSoftware. Keep in mind this is a studio with a nearly perfect list of titles. Even their more controversial entries like Dark Souls II, have managed to find a cult following. This consistent quality is likely due to effective management behind the scenes. 

A Lesson For Other Developers

As I said, the way FromSoftware is handling the future of its development team is pretty eye-opening. This is especially true when you keep the current condition of the video game industry in mind. A big reason why FromSoftware has been able to avoid these layoffs is because it is a Japanese studio. The country requires much better justifications when it comes to laying off employees.

But even beyond that, the way FromSoftware has built up talent at the company is indicative of a general philosophy that the studio follows. One that cares about the studio’s long-term health, and above all, delivering great quality games to their many fans. With how muddied up the video game industry has become lately, it is good to see a studio still having such a mindset when it comes to development.

It’s tough to say for sure what lies in FromSoftware’s future. But if their current level of quality and consistency is something that fans can expect, then I think the company will definitely become one of the biggest studios in the coming years, even more so than they are now. This is especially true if many other Western devs aren’t able to deal with the issues prevailing in their companies.

Fans will likely need some time to adjust to a FromSoftware that isn’t headed entirely by Miyazaki. But at the end of the day, if the quality that they have come to expect is present, I don’t think they will worry too much about who the director behind the game is.