FromSoftware Isn't Abandoning Single-Player Games

Summary

FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki assures fans that the studio will continue making single-player games.
Both Elden Ring Nightreign and the upcoming Switch 2 exclusive The Duskbloods are multiplayer titles.
Elden Ring Nightreign and The Duskbloods have different release dates and focus, catering to both player types

The president of FromSoftware, Hidetaka Miyazaki, says that the studio will still make single-player games after the announcement of Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive The Duskbloods ruffled some feathers. FromSoftware has become one of the most prolific and widely celebrated video game studios in the industry, and has garnered a reputation for making some of the most challenging games ever. With industry-changing single-player-focused titles like the Dark Souls trilogy, Bloodborne, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and, most recently, Elden Ring, under its belt, it’s no question that the large majority of the studio’s fans enjoy the company’s single-player endeavors.

After the success of 2022’s Elden Ring and the release of its equally beloved Shadow of the Erdtree DLC almost a year ago, FromSoftware’s latest game announcements have some longtime fans puzzled. At the 2024 Game Awards, FromSoftware revealed Elden Ring Nightreign, a standalone 3-player co-op roguelike experience set in an alternate, procedurally generated version of The Lands Between’s starting area, Limgrave. Then, as part of Nintendo’s Switch 2 Direct, the studio revealed another new Souls game that looks shockingly similar to Bloodborne, called The Duskbloods. This Switch 2 exclusive is another multiplayer-focused experience, this time housing up to eight players with PvPvE gameplay.

After The Duskbloods, FromSoftware is Just One Piece Away From Completing an Uncommon Puzzle

FromSoftware has branched out in a surprising way via the Nintendo-exclusive The Duskbloods, raising questions about the studio’s future.

The announcement of The Duskbloods only a few months after Elden Ring Nightreign’s reveal has led a sizable portion of FromSoft’s fanbase to grow concerned about a potentially permanent shift in direction for the studio. Luckily, as part of a Nintendo Creator’s Voice Blog, Director of The Duskbloods and President of FromSoftware, Hidetaka Miyazaki, weighed in on these concerns, assuring that the studio will still have single-player gamers in-mind moving forward. “The Duskbloods is an online multiplayer title at its core, but this doesn’t mean that we as a company have decided to shift to a more multiplayer-focused direction with titles going forward. We still intend to actively develop single player focused games,” Miyazaki said.

FromSoftware Will Still Make Single-Player Games

All of FromSoftware’s most successful games have been single-player-focused, so it wouldn’t have made much sense for the studio to pivot so abruptly to multiplayer titles. Miyazaki expressed that The Duskbloods had been in development for the original Switch, and that they only just recently began shifting its development to the Switch 2. Because of this, it’s likely that the game’s announcement being in such close proximity to Elden Ring Nightreign‘s was largely out of the studio’s control, as Nintendo’s Switch 2 marketing rollout must have taken precedent. With Miyazaki’s assurance, FromSoft fans should be able to expect the studio’s next big single-player game to come after The Duskbloods‘ launch in 2026.

The Duskbloods is an online multiplayer title at its core, but this doesn’t mean that we as a company have decided to shift to a more multiplayer-focused direction with titles going forward…we still intend to actively develop single-player focused games.

Elden Ring Nightreign is gearing up for a May 30 release, and there will surely be lots of information coming out about the game in the weeks leading up to it. As for The Duskbloods, it’s releasing exclusively on the Nintendo Switch 2 sometime in 2026, so fans will have to wait several more months at least before they can expect to gain more concrete knowledge about the mysterious title. Whatever FromSoftware ends up doing next, whether single-player, multiplayer, Souls, Armored Core, or something else entirely, is likely still several years away.