Former Tekken producer and VS Studio CEO Katsuhiro Harada recently talked about his experiences with Elden Ring and Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki. According to him, Miyazaki’s comparatively late entry into the industry and humble approach to game development make him stand out from his peers.
Unlike other well-known Japanese game developers who were born in the 1970s, Miyazaki didn’t enter the industry until he was 29. Having graduated with a degree in social science at Keio University and securing a job as an account manager, it was only after playing Fumito Ueda’s Ico on the PlayStation 2 that he decided to get into game development. Though his lack of experience made it hard for him to get a job, he was eventually hired at FromSoftware as a planner for Armored Core: Last Raven. He then worked as a director on Armored Core 4 and Armored Core: For Answer before directing Demon’s Souls.
Demon’s Souls initially didn’t meet sales expectations, but its popularity with fans picked up in the following months, thanks largely to Atlus and Bandai Namco, who published the game globally. The then-sleeper hit Demon’s Souls would allow Miyazaki to work on Dark Souls, with the success of the latter promoting him to president of FromSoftware in 2014.
Harada describes Miyazaki’s career path as “unique” and “exceptionally unusual,” saying “it’s remarkable that someone who wasn’t even a game developer during the dawn of the polygon era eventually became one of Japan’s most representative game creators.” He adds that unlike himself and others who worked at major game companies with cutting-edge tech during the polygon era (Namco based its System 11 arcade hardware around the Sony PlayStation to make the original Tekken), Miyazaki had no such advantages when working at FromSoftware.
When it comes to Miyazaki’s design process, Harada sees him as a sort of “mad scientist” – one who is deeply serious and obsessive when it comes to creativity. During a playtest for the life simulation and character interaction VR title Summer Lesson (in which Harada was a producer), Harada recalls seeing Miyazaki sitting in front of the test in complete silence. It was only after the others asked what he was doing that he replied that he was absorbed in thinking about what he would do if he was in charge of making the game. He then proceeded to detail his thoughts to the attendees, the contents of which Harada described as “completely insane in the best possible sense.”
Miyazaki is known for his aversion to appearing in video interviews. A summarized explanation by Harada reveals that, apart from not wanting to see himself on video, Miyazaki thinks there are many in the industry who know more about games than he does. Whenever he listens to these people talk, he finds his own understanding of games shallow and does not feel that he is in a position to talk about them. While many people (including Harada) think the statement isn’t true, this is likely one of the reasons why Miyazaki remains so humble.
Harada also had a few words to say about Dark Souls, saying Miyazaki’s true creativity shines through the world he created and not the game’s difficulty. While Miyazaki receives offers from many studios nowadays, Harada remembers when he and his team were struggling to get their ideas approved (Harada served as the general manager for production and marketing for Dark Souls and Elden Ring). It was only through the games FromSoftware created that they were able to build their reputation as a studio.
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