Follow us on Google News
Get the latest updates directly in your Google News feed
Hidetaka Miyazaki is without a doubt one of the biggest names in gaming right now. Everyone who is his fan knows the kind of games he makes. Games where some players struggle to kill the first boss for a few hours and give up. He is pretty good at making these games too; in fact, this is his company’s whole identity.
Today, they have a number of soulslike games to their name. They have made some other games too, such asSekiroandArmored Core VI, but their main focus has mostly been on soulslike genre. But game director Hidetaka Miyazaki cannot help but remember the time when he started this legendary journey with one game that was considered a failure by most.
Hidetaka Miyazaki talks about how he went about developingDemon’s Souls
FromSoftware was not a very big company whenDemon’s Soulsstarted development. This studio was just known for its games likeKing’s FieldandArmored Core.King’s Fieldis an interesting franchise; these are first-person action RPGs that are very hard.
“If my ideas failed nobody would care”: Hidetaka Miyazaki Knew Demon’s Souls Was Already a Big Failure Before He Took Over and Changed Everything
When Sony asked FromSoftware to work on a game similar to theElder Scrollsseries to compete withElder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, a game that was exclusive to Xbox 360. The studio started working on a first-person fantasy RPG and based it on their ownKing’s Field franchise.
However, they started facing a number of difficulties during the development of this game. Amidst those difficulties,Hidetaka Miyazakicame aboard as the game’s new director. He then scraped the whole game and started making a spiritual successor toKing’s Field.
He changed the camera angle from first-person to third-person and then started introducing a bunch of other unconventional gameplay mechanics. It has been said a bunch of times that this game,Demon’s Souls, was already considered a failure by higher-ups at FromSoftware.
As a result of this, wheneverHidetaka Miyazakiasked his higher-ups for permission to include something unusual in his game, they just said yes. This way, he kept on building his game; little did he or anyone else know that he was writing history there.
EvenHidetaka Miyazakisuggests that he intentionally took the lead on this project. He knew the condition this game was in, and he suggested that he understood that he could do anything with it at that point. Knowing well enough that evenif he failed and even if the game failed,no one would care.
“The project had problems and the team had been unable to create a compelling prototype. But when I heard it was a fantasy-action role-playing game, I was excited. I figured if I could find a way to take control of the game, I could turn it into anything I wanted. Best of all, if my ideas failed, nobody would care – it was already a failure.”
He somehow finished the game, and the result was just what everyone thought it would be: a flop. It was a flop even before it launched. Publisher Sony was not impressed with it after its negative reception at the Tokyo Game Show 2008. It eventually launched in 2009 and sold around 20,000 copies.
“I wanted to make one myself”: This Japanese Action Game Arguably Played the Most Crucial Role in Hidetaka Miyazaki’s Legendary Career
But as it happens with good media, through word of mouth and some YouTube videos, this game eventually became popular in the West. People started importing it and making it a cult hit.
Now Sony’s respect for this game is not hidden from anyone.
Years after the launch of the originalDemon’s Souls, Sony decided to give that game the respect it did not get originally. They tasked Bluepoint, their in-house studio, with developing a remake and releasing it for PlayStation 5.
Hidetaka Miyazaki’s Journey to Fame Will Inspire You- The Dark Souls Creator Couldn’t Even Afford to Buy Books or Manga as a Child
Four years after that remake’s launch, it still remains one of the best-looking games on the console. It even uses pretty much every trick the PlayStation 5 has to offer, from 360 audio to Dualsense; it’s a showcase of the PS5 as a whole.
Rohit Sejwal
Articles Published :264
Rohit Sejwal has been enthusiastically playing video games for over 15 years and has been writing about them for around 1.5 years now. His love for movies pushed him towards video games and made him look at them as a new interactive medium for storytelling. Besides completing his Masters in Mass Communication, he also has a diploma in filmmaking and has a sheer passion for reading dark fantasy books besides watching movies and playing video games.
More from Rohit Sejwal
“We’re not going to add in a feature because…”: Even Hidetaka Miyazaki Can Learn from How Batman: Arkham Knight Approached Open World Gotham City
“I love the engine of that game”: Neil Druckmann Put a Hotline Miami Easter Egg in The Last of Us 2 That Had a Deeper Meaning Than Fans Thought Earlier
“So he kept fighting with Konami”: Hideo Kojima’s Original Plans For Metal Gear Clashed With Konami’s Vision For the Hit Franchise
Recommended
Timo Tjahjanto Shades Keanu Reeves Film: Why is Nobody 2 Not a Desperate John Wick Ripoff?
Why Is Sharon Stone Dissing Basic Instinct Reboot Despite Years of Clout? Details Inside
Anya Taylor-Joy and Meryl Streep Circling Same Role In Cameron Crowe’s Next Big Bet: Reports
What Did Justin Baldoni Say to Isabela Ferrer? Alarming Revelation in Blake Lively’s Lawsuit
‘Gintama’ Creator Admits New Movie Is “A tool for dirty adults to make a quick buck”
Nice’s Return Just Gave ‘To Be Hero X’ Its Highest-Rated Episode of the Season
Hidetaka Miyazaki
