Elden Ring, Dark Souls Director Becomes Second Game Dev to Make Time's 100 Most Influential People List | Push Square

pushsquare.com:

Hidetaka Miyazaki is the president of FromSoftware and one of the all-time great game directors, helming Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, and Elden Ring (which has sold a surreal 20 million copies), to name a few. In recognition of this, the auteur creator has been named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2023, for innovation.

Only the second video game developer to have ever been featured (Shigeru Miyamoto was honoured in 2007), the list compiles noteworthy folks from all walks of life; politicians, musicians, athletes, people who excel in one field or another, or contribute to making the world a better place. Miyazaki, the sadistic architect of Blight Town, the same guy that signed off on positioning Anor Londo's archers, will take his rightful place amongst them.

FromSoftware, under Miyaziki's leadership, has risen to become one of the premiere developers in the industry, with legions of imitators and few equals. The «Soulslike» has officially entered our collective gaming lexicon, with the descriptor calling to mind a specific combination of weighted combat, frantic exploration, and labyrinthine level design in the same way Metroidvania or roguelike does.

It's cool to see him recognised, and we wonder if anyone else on that list can claim to have caused as much collective anxiety, fear, anger, and frustration as Miyazaki did with just Sekiro alone. It does feature various world leaders, so the jury might still be out there. What do you think of Miyazaki's achievements and of making the Time100? Let us know in the comments section below.

Khayl Adam is the second best video game journalist Australia has ever produced, and his ambitions of world domination have (thus far) been curbed by the twin