FromSoftware

About

FromSoftware is a Japanese gaming development studio best known for the Dark Souls series of games, as well as Bloodborne and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. Their games have a reputation for being highly difficult but ultimately very rewarding, leading to high praise from critics and fans.

History

FromSoftware was founded November 1st, 1986, and entered the games industry in 1994 with King's Field, a launch title for the Playstation. ^[1] The company's early years in the games industry saw it producing mech games such as the Armored Core series in the late 90s and early 2000s and Metal Wolf Chaos. The company also produced some RPG games like Shadow Tower: Abyss and Evergrace.

Souls Series

Demon's Souls

The company began seeing international recognition with the 2009 release of Demon's Souls. Under the direction of Hidetaka Miyazaki, Demon Souls released for the Sony PlayStation 3 console and is widely regarded as the spiritual predecessor of Dark Souls. The game reviewed well, receiving a score of 89/100 on Metacritic,^[2] and sold well thanks in part to word of mouth, ultimately selling over a million copies.^[3]

Dark Souls

Dark Souls, the first official title in the video game series, was directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki and developed by FromSoftware for the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360, which was released in Japan on September 22nd, 2011, followed by its worldwide release in October 2011. A PC version of the video game was released in August 2012. Dark Souls holds a Metacritic score of 89 for the Xbox 360 and PS3 while the PC port was rated a score of 85.

Dark Souls II

On December 7th, 2012, Dark Souls II was announced during the Spike Video Game Awards. Unlike the previous game, Hidetaka Miyazaki is credited as the supervisor of the production, with Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura serving as co-directors of the sequel title. In March 2014, the game was released for the Sony PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360, followed by the release of its PC port in April that year. In April 2015, Dark Souls II: Scholars of The First Sin was released as the expansion of the game for the Sony PlayStation 3 & PlayStation 4, Microsoft Xbox One & Xbox 360 and PC. Dark Souls II_ holds a Metacritic score of 91 on all platforms while Dark Souls II: Scholar of The First Sin holds a Metacritic score of 87 for the PlayStation 4, 89 for the Xbox One and 78 on the PC.

Dark Souls III

On June 5th, 2015, Rooster Teeth news channel The Know reported on leaked information and screenshots from the third official title Dark Souls III it had anonymously obtained during its production stage (shown below), which was subsequently picked up by several video game news sites, including Polygon, Kotaku, Forbes, and Techno Buffalo.

On June 9th, 2015, IGN^[5] released promotional images for Dark Soul III a week ahead of its official unveiling at the E3 2015 (shown below).

During its showcase at E3, FromSoftware confirmed that Hidetaka Miyazaki would once again return as the director of the third official title in the series and slated for release in early 2016 for the Sony PlayStation 4, Microsoft Xbox One and PC. Dark Souls III was released in Japan on March 24th, 2016, followed by worldwide release on April 12th, 2016. Dark Souls III holds a Metacritic score of 89 for the PS4, 86 for the XBox One and 90 for the PC.

Bloodborne

Bloodborne is a dark fantasy action role-playing game developed by From Software and published by SCEA Japan Studio exclusively for the Sony PlayStation 4 on March 24th, 2015. Due to the similar gameplay mechanics, Bloodborne is considered to be a spiritual sequel to both Demon's Souls and Dark Souls. As of March 2015, Bloodborne holds a score of 93 on the review-aggregating website Metacritic.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a 2019 action video game from From Software. The game follows the titular Sekiro, a shinobi (ninja) in feudal Japan. The game was released for Playstation 4, Xbox One, and Windows and received positive reviews. The game is also directed by Hidetaka Miyazaki. It was revealed at the 2017 Game Awards with a teaser (shown below, left). A full trailer appeared at 2018's E3 (shown below, right). The game is a fully-single player experience. It was released on March 22nd, 2019. The game received universal acclaim upon release, scoring an 89 on Metacritic on the day of release.

Elden Ring

On June 9th, 2019, FromSoftware announced Elden Ring, a collaboration between Miyazaki and Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin.^[4]

Online Presence

In addition to the many online communities devoted to FromSoftware games, the company itself has a subreddit with over 6,500 subscribers^[5] and a Facebook page with over 76,000 likes.^[6] The studio's YouTube channel has over 98,000 subscribers.^[7]

Search Interest

External References