How did the next game from the maker of Elden Ring become a Switch 2 exclusive? FromSoftware president and director Hidetaka Miyazaki hasn’t spilled any secrets about what prompted the unique exclusivity deal, but he did explain some of the benefits of working with Nintendo in a recent interview. The veteran developer said partnering with the maker of Mario and Zelda has helped improve the upcoming PvPvE multiplayer game The Duskbloods in important ways.
FromSoftware games are known for being obtuse and esoteric. They have absurdly brief tutorials explaining how to block, roll, and parry before thrusting players out into harsh, unforgiving environments with no real sense of what they’re supposed to do or why. This is what has made millions fall in love with franchises like Dark Souls and, more recently, Elden Ring, but it’s also a risky formula for a multiplayer game on a platform primarily populated by people who play Nintendo games. It sounds like Nintendo played a big role in helping FromSoftware make its latest game more approachable for new players.
“Of course the game isn’t out yet so there are more things to consider, but in terms of the relationship currently and how we think it’s going, up until this point—the systems and the overall ruleset of the game are very unique, and I think having someone who can constantly give us feedback, support, additional ideas, and the balancing first of all because these features are quite complex and difficult—having this relationship is definitely key to that,” Miyazaki told IGN in a fresh round of previews for The Duskbloods.
He continued, “Also with the complexity of the systems, the onboarding tutorials and making sure players understand how the game works and how to succeed in the game is something we’ve historically not been super great at conveying instantly. We’ve definitely just dropped players in and hoped they would figure it out. In this case, Nintendo is definitely the right partner for better conveying that information in a way that is understandable to the player; it definitely suits their strengths.”
We’ll see how that works in practice. Last year’s Nightreign spin-off certainly streamlined Elden Ring into much shorter, bite-sized roguelike runs. But it was also full of stuff players could only really get a feel for and come to clearly understand by spending dozens of hours getting knocked down and picking themselves back up again. With online PvP elements playing a central role in The Duskbloods, any asymmetries between player knowledge are likely to become even more pronounced and punishing.
We’ll see how that works in practice in the upcoming alpha test. In the meantime, it sounds like FromSoftware is having a great time collaborating with Nintendo. “In terms of the reason that we initially decided to go with Nintendo, we had had an opportunity to discuss the idea for the game with them and I think they seemed very excited and very receptive to the idea, they seemed very forward-thinking in terms of how to do it,” Miyazaki said. “Before considering the business aspect of it, that alone was something that I found very appealing and gave me a lot more reassurance for moving forward with this.”