Elden Ring's director isn't working on Armored Core 6 anymore, and he's "extremely jealous"

Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki isn't working on Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, and he's "extremely jealous" of the team that is.

That's according to a new interview Miyazaki gave earlier this week to IGN, shortly after Armored Core 6 was first unveiled last week at The Game Awards 2022. Miyazaki says in the interview that he's taking a step back from the new Armored Core game, joking that he's excited to play it as a fan for a change.

Instead, Miyazaki has provided the basic concept for Armored Core 6 to Masaru Yamamura, Dark Souls veteran developer and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice's lead designer. The Elden Ring lead says he worked on the "initial" direction of Armored Core 6 before handing it over to Yamamura.

It's been many years since we last saw an Armored Core game, and FromSoftware has changed dramatically in the years since. Now the Japanese studio has much greater resources at its disposal for game development, Miyazaki says he's jealous of the "development firepower" the Armored Core 6 team has to work with.

Elsewhere in the interview, Miyazaki and Yamamura confirm that versus multiplayer mode will return for Armored Core 6 and that the game will feature a "mission-based" structure, rather than being entirely open world and free for players to explore. Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon might be a return to FromSoftware's past, but it sounds plenty different to anything the developer has done in the last decade.

Earlier this week, Armored Core fans couldn't wait to welcome newer FromSoftware fans to the older, weirder series.