Miyazaki says calm down, FromSoft will keep making 'singleplayer-focused games' in future even though its current obsession is multiplayer stuff

FromSoftware has two irons—that we know of—in the fire right now: Elden Ring Nightreign (releasing on most current platforms) and The Duskbloods (for something called the 'Nintendo Switch 2').

But wait. These are both multiplayer-focused things. More multiplayer-focused than usual, I mean. Nightreign is a full-on co-op game set in The Lands Between while The Duskbloods is a "PvPvE-focused multiplayer action title" set in fake-Yharnam. What could this mean? Is FromSoft leaving us singleplayer likers behind? Do I have to go out and make friends?

Shockingly, no. And thank god for that. In an interview with plucky independent games media outlet Nintendo, FromSoft president and Duskbloods director Hidetaka Miyazaki assured scared, lonely fans of more traditional, Dark Souls-ian fare that the studio has no intention of dedicating itself entirely to multiplayer-focused titles in the years to come.

"I’ve always found the PvPvE structure very interesting," Miyazaki tells Ninty. "It allows for a broad range of game-design ideas, while also letting us leverage our experience of designing challenging enemy encounters." Nevertheless, he adds that the studio's recent direction "doesn’t mean that we as a company have decided to shift to a more multiplayer-focused direction with titles going forward."

As if to evidence his mad claim that FromSoft will keep making FromSoft games, Miyazaki points out that the most recent Nintendo Direct also saw a Switch 2 version of Elden Ring announced. "We still intend to actively develop singleplayer-focused games such as this that embrace our more traditional style."

So, you know, we can all chill out, I suppose. Or those of us who were slightly worried we'd be left behind while everyone else went off to the multiplayer sunlit uplands can chill out, anyway.

Really, it's not bombshell news that FromSoft intends to keep making games in the vein of the most successful games it's ever made, but it's always nice to be reassured. I guess this jaunt into multiplayer is an experimental phase for the studio, something it could either keep going or drop entirely depending on how it's received. A bit like going goth, I guess.