Elden Ring creator and FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki has said there will be no mass layoffs at the studio “as long as this company is my responsibility.”
Speaking to PC Gamer, Miyazaki discussed layoffs in the games industry, specifically the number of studios closed under Embracer.
“Speaking to myself and this company, I want to say that this is not something I would wish for the FromSoftware workforce in a million years,” said Miyazaki. “I’m pretty sure our parent company Kadokawa understands that and shares that view.”
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Miyazaki compared his view to that of late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, who famously took a pay cut to avoid layoffs.
“I think it was the old ex-president of Nintendo, Iwata-san, who said that ‘people who are afraid of losing their jobs are afraid of making good things.’ I’m paraphrasing that, but I fully share this view,” Miyazaki said.
“I think it’s true. And I think the people at Kadokawa, our parent company, understand that I feel very strongly about this. While we can’t say with 100% certainty, we also can’t say with complete certainty what the future will bring.” for From and Kadokawa – at least as long as this company is my responsibility, I wouldn’t let that happen. So hopefully our players and our fans can get some certainty from that.”
Elsewhere, in an interview with Gamespot, Miyazaki discussed the studio’s evolving identity and players’ trust in the studio, describing FromSoftware’s next chapter as coming down to “value and how we create this value”.
Of course, the company has new directors and designers who may have different specific ideas than Miyazaki, so he didn’t want to say too much.
“But if you look at it more broadly, I think it all comes down to creating and providing that value to gamers and being able to do that 100 percent,” he said. “So, making sure the environment is conducive to that kind of thinking, and [creating] For me, one way to achieve that is what I think as president and how I think about the future of the company. So in reality it’s a very simple business, I would say.
“For the foreseeable future, I think the way fans have responded to our games, and dare I say the amount of trust they’ve placed in us as a brand, has given us the opportunity to be able to demonstrate different types of value that we can add. So I think our job at this point is not to violate that trust and expectation.”
That confidence in the brand has certainly boosted sales of Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon. “I am very grateful for the fans who responded and embraced the trust we have built together,” said Miyazaki. “So I understand that Armored Core has never been a big franchise that has been adopted by many players, but when I see the current state of the franchise, I know we are on the right track. And I think the same can be said for me too. as well as the company as a whole.”
Still, on an individual level, “the feeling of overcoming challenges and the dark fantasy world is something I will always have,” Miyazaki said, even as the company evolves.
In an earlier interview, Miyazaki stated that he still hasn’t created his “ideal fantasy RPG”.
Mass layoffs have affected much of the games industry, with more than 10,000 so far by 2024. Yet Japanese studios have avoided such measures: Capcom, for example, announced a salary increase for all employees this year.
Elden Ring DLC Shadow of the Erdtree releases this week on June 21 for PC, Xbox and PlayStation consoles.