Elden Ring director and FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki is directing a new game.
In a new interview with Japanese site 4gamer, Miyazaki has discussed his and the studio's immediate production plans. Most notably, he confirmed that FromSoftware has multiple games in development, with one – which was in development alongside Elden Ring – apparently in its final stages. Miyazaki himself is also already overseeing a new game post-Elden Ring.
"As a director, the next title is already in motion, so I'd like to avoid spoilers there," Miyazaki said of his plans (quotes machine translated from Japanese). Curiously, he added that he'd like to make "a fantasy with a higher degree of abstraction than past works," though it seems this type of theme is more of a bucket-list item and separate from what Miyazaki is currently working on.
From the descriptions of the studio's pipeline, we can reasonably assume that the FromSoftware project which is currently nearing its final stages wasn't directed by Miyazaki. He almost certainly wouldn't have time to direct another project alongside Elden Ring, which was handily FromSoftware's biggest game ever. In other words, we likely won't see whatever Miyazaki is directing next for some time.
Miyazaki discussed his approach to projects directed by others in the same interview. "I only make a minimum amount of confirmation, and I try not to look too much," he said. "I'm essentially a director, so when I touch a title under development, I think about it and [speak about it]. But in that case, I'm not the director, I'm not the subject of the vision, and I can't take responsibility to the end, so I feel that extra talk will have a lot of negative effects on the game and the project."
Multiple leaks suggest that FromSoftware has a new Armored Core game in the works, and from the state of those leaks, which include a bounty of screenshots, it would appear to be pretty far along.
This is just informed speculation, but given Miyazaki's history, it would make sense for someone else to direct this unconfirmed Armored Core revival while Miyazaki leads a presumed new Souls-like. Hopefully we get firmer details on what's next for Elden Ring and FromSoftware by the year's end.
Elden Ring data miners are still picking through cut content, including a tragic subplot for an early game merchant.
