Gaming IndustryElden RingFromSoftware boss addresses gaming industry layoffs: ‘As long as this company’s my responsibility, I would not let that happen’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Gaming IndustryElden RingFromSoftware boss addresses gaming industry layoffs: ‘As long as this company’s my responsibility, I would not let that happen’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: From Software)
Kadokawa isn’t Microsoft big, but it is stillbig, with revenue of about$1.65 billion in its last fiscal year. FromSoftware is one of Kadokawa’s major earners, but the company also makes significant money in the manga publishing and anime markets (Delicious in Dungeonis one of its recent hits).
With games like Elden Ring sellingmore than 25 million copies, you’d think FromSoftware would be free of any meddling—why mess with the golden goose? But that logic hasn’t saved other game studios from short-sided across-the-board layoffs at mega publishers like EA, 2K, Sony… the list goes on. So I asked FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki what he could say about FromSoftware’s business relationship with its parent company, and whether From was at risk of the same fate that’sbefallen studios under the Embracer umbrellain the last year.
“Speaking to myself and this company, I want to say that this is not something I would wish on the staff at FromSoftware in a million years,” Miyazaki said. “I’m pretty sure our parent company Kadokawa understands that and shares that view.”
During one of many brutal waves of layoffs this year, fans pointed to the two times former Nintendo president Satoru Iwatatook a pay cutinstead of laying off workers, a move no current game CEOs seem eager to replicate. But when we spoke, Miyazaki himself also citedIwata’s reasoning in 2013for not laying off employees even when the company was operating at a loss.
“I think it was the old ex-president of Nintendo, Iwata-san, who said that ‘people who are afraid of losing their jobs are afraid of making good things.’ I’m paraphrasing that, but I totally share this view,” Miyazaki said.
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“I think it’s true. And I think the people at Kadokawa, our parent company, understand that I hold this view very strongly. While we can’t say 100%—we can’t say with complete certainty what the future’s going to hold for From and Kadokawa—at least as long as this company is my responsibility, that’s something I would not let happen. So hopefully our players and our fans can take a little bit of assurance from that.”
It’s a strong statement, particularly next to the usual CEO lines abouthard decisionsandrationalizing pipelines.
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