Just a few months after the release of Elden Ring, it’s clear that FromSoftware is far from resting on its laurels, with director Hidetaka Miyazaki revealing that the studio has another game in the works that is nearing the end of its development.
In a recent interview with 4player (opens in new tab) (through VGC (opens in new tab)), Miyazaki was asked about a comment made during an interview in 2018, in which he said there were several games in development, two of which were unannounced.
The first of these, we now know, was Elden Ring, but Miyazaki confirms in this recent interview that the second is now “in the final stages” of its development. It seems, then, that the game has been in development for some time – more than four years at the very least.
This announcement comes shortly after a tweet from FromSoftware’s official account (opens in new tab)who stated that the studio is currently hiring “for a wide range of roles for various new projects”.
With functions like “Game Planner” and “System Planner” being announced (opens in new tab), it’s pretty clear that some of the titles are still in the early stages. Whether any of these roles are for the ‘final stages’ game mentioned by Miyazaki isn’t known, but it’s certainly not impossible – ‘final stages’ isn’t ‘finished’ so there’s probably still a lot to be done.
Interestingly, Miyazaki notes later in the interview that, as a director, his “next title is already in the works” and that he would prefer to “avoid spoilers” in that area, which suggests it is possibly in its early stages.
Miyazaki also confirms that Elden Ring will continue to receive updates even as work on new games is underway. He wasn’t willing to go into detail about what these updates would involve – although we’ve seen reports of DLC – but it’s clear the studio has plenty of reasons to hire.
What could this new game be?
So, there’s a new FromSoftware game on the horizon. But what could it be? Well, earlier this year, a new entry in the long-dormant Armored Core series was a popular topic in rumor after a reset era (opens in new tab) user (via VGC (opens in new tab)) claimed to have received a survey about the game. Inside screenshots later leaked on social media (opens in new tab) it looked like it could be pretty good in terms of development.
However, the studio has not confirmed these rumors and it could be something else entirely. Regardless of whether or not this near-complete game is another Armored Core title, with Elden Ring not much released and Miyazaki apparently working on a new project, it’s possible he’s not in charge of directing, though he could be involved in another way.
In fact, in the 4Gamer interview he notes (translated using Google) that he is “developing various titles from directors who are not me”. Only time will tell on this front, however.
As it stands, with Elden Ring now out in the world and proving a big hit for the studio, we hope we don’t have to wait too long for some official details on what this next game will be.