On April 13, 2023, TIME magazine announced its annual “100 Most Influential People in the World” list for 2023, including Hidetaka Miyazaki, the creative force behind FromSoftware. Miyazaki becomes the second Japanese game developer to be recognized in this prestigious list, following in the footsteps of Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto in 2007.
Miyazaki, born between 1974 and 1975, is a renowned creative director, designer, scriptwriter, and president of FromSoftware. He first joined the company in 2004 and initially worked on the Armored Core series before gaining widespread recognition for creating the Dark Souls series. In 2014, Miyazaki was promoted to president and representative director of the company. His other critically acclaimed works include Demon’s Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, and Elden Ring.
Miyazaki’s games have been influenced by various novelists, manga artists, and game designers, such as Fumito Ueda and Yuji Horii. His games often feature high difficulty and narratives presented primarily through environmental cues and flavor text, rather than dialogue. As a video game auteur, his work has been cited as highly influential, leading to the creation of the Soulslike genre.
His latest title, Elden Ring, garnered multiple “Game of the Year” awards in 2022 and 2023. Miyazaki’s inspiring career trajectory, including transitioning from Oracle Corporation to game design, becoming a company president within a decade, and having a significant impact on the gaming industry, has earned him a well-deserved spot on TIME’s 100 Most Influential People list for 2023.
