“Absolute W”: Hidetaka Miyazaki Has Moved on From Elden Ring, and FromSoft’s Next Project Is One No-One Expected
A shift in focus from high fantasy to robots.
Elden Ring has been the most successful outing from FromSoftware, bringing the tough but rewarding Soulsborne genre to the industry’s forefront and making the studio a household name in gaming. However, all amazing things must come to an end, as with the release of Shadow of the Erdtree last month, the developer now has to look towards a fresh future with new projects.
Interestingly, it didn’t take long for the Hidetaka Miyazaki-led studio to drop a subtle hint about what it could be working on next, and a DLC for another recent FromSoftware title tops the list of speculations.
As the Era of Elden Ring Comes to an End, FromSoftware Is Hiring for Its Next Project
With FromSoftware keeping its legacy going with its biggest expansion yet, it was not really clear what the studio would be working on after Shadow of the Erdtree hit the shelves.
Although things have been relatively quiet regarding the developer’s future plans, a recently posted job listing on its official recruitment website may have revealed a crucial detail about its upcoming project. FromSoftware is currently hiring for a Character Modeler position, and the very first point in the recruitment ad specifies what the core responsibility of the person who gets hired would be.
“Modeling and texturing characters or robots” reads the Responsibilities section of the job listing, which, to some extent, narrows it down to a few possibilities. For starters, aside from the Soulsborne video games, FromSoftware is well-versed in the world of mecha-based vehicular combat, leading the community to believe that the Armored Core series may finally be getting its due attention.
Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon DLC, a Sequel, or an Entirely New IP?
There are a couple of factors that are fueling the speculation regarding FromSoftware developing an expansion for Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon.
Elden Ring was launched in 2022, and it received its one and only DLC two years after its initial release, and considering that Armored Core 6 was released in 2023 and actually features robots, fans are excited for a potential expansion that could possibly be coming out next year.
The success of Shadow of the Erdtree could have given Hidetaka Miyazaki some more confidence regarding expansions, and while fans may not be done with Elden Ring’s world just yet, FromSoftware could now put in more effort and resources into making Armored Core a bigger experience.
A sequel to Armored Core 6 seems unlikely at this stage, as it has not even been a full year since the game was released, but another quality FromSoftware DLC could boost the relatively overlooked title’s popularity. Of course, there is always the possibility of the studio creating an entirely new IP that features robots, and it would be interesting to see how the Soulsborne genre could be incorporated into a mecha-based game.
Whatever Hidetaka Miyazaki and his team are working on, their track record has shown that they are experts of their craft, and their next project can’t come soon enough.
