Over the years, FromSoftware and its president Hidetaka Miyazaki have become some of the most highly regarded Japanese game developers in history. With the massive success of the Dark Souls series having given rise to a whole new sub-genre within action RPGs across PC and consoles, no one would deny the genius behind these games.
However, Miyazaki-san doesn't seem to be wholly aware of this. Tekken series creator Katsuhiro Harada recently revealed that the Elden Ring director genuinely believes his own understanding of games is shallow compared to other game developers.
"From my perspective, Miyazaki is a rather unique, yet extremely serious game developer," Harada-san said on X. "His career did not begin in the game industry. In fact, he didn’t become a game developer until he was almost thirty years old." According to the creator of the Tekken series, this is an exceptionally unusual career path, as Miyazaki-san is one of the rare creators who wasn't working at a major company at the onset of the 3D polygon graphics era.
After highlighting how Dark Souls didn't become a success overnight, but was instead the result of everything FromSoftware and Miyazaki-san had worked on up until that point, Harada-san took a blunt dig at corporate critics who only evaluate financial success over individual growth. He then recounted two specific things that have always stayed with him about the Elden Ring director.
"The first was back when I was developing Summer Lesson for VR, around the time it was generating a lot of buzz. One day, he came to try an early build of Summer Lesson along with people from several other game companies," the Tekken series creator said. "While everyone else was laughing, chatting, and having fun with it, Miyazaki alone played it with incredible seriousness. Then, after everyone had finished and started discussing their impressions, he remained completely silent, staring intently at the preview monitor, deep in thought. Everyone became curious and finally asked him, 'Miyazaki, what are you thinking about?' He suddenly smiled and said, 'Oh… I got completely absorbed in thinking about what I would do if I were making this, and what kind of game I’d create.'"
"It was one of those rare moments when I caught a glimpse of what I’d call his “mad scientist” side—his deeply serious, obsessive approach to creativity," Harada-san concluded.
The other detail that still stays with Katsuhiro Harada about Hidetaka Miyazaki is how he generally dislikes doing video interviews or live streams. This is apparently because the Elden Ring director believes many people in the industry know games far better than he does. According to Harada-san, when Miyazaki listens to those veterans speak about games, he truly believes his own understanding is shallow, leaving him in no position to be talking about games publicly.
"Come on… if you say you’re still not there yet, then the rest of us won’t feel qualified to talk about games at all," Harada-san concluded, saying what every FromSoftware fan would say. If someone like Miyazaki-san is not qualified to talk about video games, almost no one would ever be.
It's not just humbleness that makes Hidetaka Miyazaki such a compelling game developer, but also his unwillingness to compromise his creative vision. Last month, the director of Elden Ring openly rejected investor demands for safer sequels, promising that FromSoftware will continue to focus entirely on delivering valuable games. And with the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive The Duskbloods looking to push the boundaries of the studio's gameplay formula further, there's little doubt that Miyazaki-san and his team will unflinchingly keep to these words.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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