Who is FromSoftware? The studio behind Elden Ring, Dark Souls and Bloodborne

FromSoftware has become one of the most influential game developers of the modern era.

Today, the Japanese studio is closely associated with Elden Ring, Dark Souls, Bloodborne and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.

However, that is only part of its history.

FromSoftware was founded on 1 November 1986, years before it entered the video game business. In fact, the company originally developed business application software. It only moved into game development in 1994, when Sony launched the original PlayStation.

Its first game was King’s Field, a dark first-person RPG released for PlayStation in December 1994. Three years later, FromSoftware launched the first Armored Core.

Those two games already contained ideas that would become central to the studio decades later.

Dark worlds.

Limited explanations.

Dangerous exploration.

Mechanical experimentation.

And, perhaps most importantly, satisfaction through overcoming something that initially seemed impossible.

FromSoftware did not invent difficult games.

Yet it eventually built an entire design identity around making challenge meaningful.

That philosophy would lead from Demon’s Souls to Dark Souls, then Bloodborne, Sekiro and ultimately Elden Ring.

Now, in 2026, FromSoftware is considerably larger than the studio that created those early PlayStation games.

It employs 456 people, according to its most recently published company figure from May 2025, operates a Tokyo head office and Fukuoka studio, and remains led by president Hidetaka Miyazaki.

Meanwhile, its current portfolio includes Elden Ring, Elden Ring Nightreign, Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon and the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 title The Duskbloods.

So how did a business software company become one of gaming’s most recognisable developers?

FromSoftware did not begin as a game developer

FromSoftware was established in Tokyo in 1986.

At first, video games were not the company’s business.

Instead, FromSoftware developed business application software.

That changed in 1994.

Sony was preparing to enter the console market with the original PlayStation, and FromSoftware moved into game development.

Its first release was King’s Field.

The game arrived in Japan on 16 December 1994 and placed players inside a dark first-person fantasy world filled with enemies, traps and exploration.

Looking back from 2026, King’s Field feels remarkably important.

It was not Dark Souls.

However, several ideas associated with later FromSoftware games were already visible.

The atmosphere was oppressive.

Exploration mattered.

Combat required caution.

Success felt earned.

Even FromSoftware’s official description highlights the sense of accomplishment created by overcoming difficult situations.

That idea would eventually become fundamental to the studio.

King’s Field established FromSoftware’s dark fantasy roots

FromSoftware followed the original game with King’s Field II in 1995 and King’s Field III in 1996.

These games never reached the global popularity of Elden Ring.

Nevertheless, they established an important foundation.

Dark fantasy became familiar territory for FromSoftware.

So did mysterious storytelling.

Players often entered hostile worlds with incomplete information and had to understand those worlds through exploration.

Years later, Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls would refine that philosophy considerably.

Yet its roots can be traced much further back.

Armored Core showed that FromSoftware was never only about fantasy

Then came something completely different.

Armored Core launched for PlayStation in 1997.

Instead of medieval ruins and monsters, players controlled highly customisable mechs.

The series emphasised machine configuration.

Weapons could change.

Parts could change.

Mobility could change.

Players could rebuild their Armored Core around different combat situations.

That mechanical flexibility became another long-running FromSoftware trait.

The studio’s games frequently allow players to approach challenges through different builds rather than giving everyone exactly the same solution.

Armored Core also became one of FromSoftware’s longest-running franchises.

Several entries followed across PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360 and other systems.

However, the franchise would eventually disappear for many years before making a major return.

More on that later.

FromSoftware spent years experimenting

The period between King’s Field and Dark Souls contains far more than the games people usually associate with FromSoftware.

The studio developed titles such as Echo Night, Shadow Tower, Eternal Ring, Evergrace, Rune, Murakumo, Chromehounds and multiple Armored Core games.

It also became involved with the Tenchu franchise and acquired the series’ copyright from Activision in 2004.

That history matters because modern FromSoftware can sometimes look as though it emerged suddenly with Dark Souls.

It did not.

The studio spent years experimenting with different genres, platforms and mechanics.

Some games succeeded.

Others remained obscure.

However, all that experience eventually contributed to the developer FromSoftware became.

Demon’s Souls changed everything

A major turning point arrived in 2009.

FromSoftware released Demon’s Souls for PlayStation 3, published by Sony Interactive Entertainment in Japan. FromSoftware’s own corporate history identifies it as an important studio title in 2009.

Demon’s Souls established many systems that would later define the Souls formula.

Players explored hostile environments.

Death was expected.

Progress could be lost.

Enemies punished careless decisions.

Boss fights demanded attention.

Multiplayer existed, but not in the conventional form players expected.

Messages appeared from other players.

Ghostly figures briefly crossed worlds.

Players could cooperate.

They could also invade one another.

Most importantly, Demon’s Souls treated failure differently from many other games.

Dying was not simply punishment.

It was information.

Failure became part of the FromSoftware experience

This philosophy is one of the most important reasons FromSoftware’s games feel different.

A difficult enemy defeats you.

So you try again.

The character may not be stronger.

However, the player now understands something.

Perhaps the enemy has a delayed attack.

Maybe there is a safe direction to dodge.

There could be another route.

A shortcut may exist.

Equipment might need to change.

Eventually, what appeared impossible becomes manageable.

That transformation creates the feeling FromSoftware has repeatedly emphasised in its own descriptions of its games: a sense of accomplishment.

Difficulty therefore is only half the design.

The reward comes from understanding how to overcome it.

Dark Souls turned the formula into a global phenomenon

FromSoftware followed Demon’s Souls with Dark Souls in 2011.

The game was developed with Bandai Namco Entertainment and would eventually become the beginning of a trilogy.

Dark Souls took many ideas from Demon’s Souls and placed them inside a deeply interconnected world.

Lordran became famous for the way areas connected.

A locked gate discovered hours earlier might later become a shortcut.

An elevator could unexpectedly return the player to somewhere familiar.

A distant structure might eventually become reachable.

This created a world that felt physical rather than simply arranged as separate levels.

Dark Souls was also difficult.

However, challenge was once again only part of its identity.

Exploration mattered just as much.

So did mystery.

Dark Souls does not explain everything

FromSoftware became famous for withholding information.

The story exists.

The lore exists.

However, players rarely receive a simple explanation.

Instead, information is scattered.

NPC dialogue provides fragments.

Item descriptions reveal more.

Architecture tells another part of the story.

Enemy placement can suggest what happened somewhere.

Consequently, the community becomes involved in understanding the game itself.

Players discuss theories.

Videos appear.

Lore researchers reconstruct timelines.

Different interpretations develop.

That process turns the game into something people continue discussing long after reaching the ending.

Dark Souls created an entire gaming vocabulary

Eventually, the influence became large enough that other games were described relative to it.

“Soulslike” became a genre label.

Developers across the industry borrowed ideas associated with FromSoftware.

Recoverable experience after death.

Bonfire-style checkpoints.

Respawning enemies.

Stamina-based combat.

Deliberate attacks.

Interconnected environments.

Difficult bosses.

Cryptic storytelling.

Not every Soulslike copies Dark Souls exactly.

Nevertheless, the fact that an entire category of games is named after FromSoftware’s series demonstrates the impact it had.

Dark Souls became a trilogy

Dark Souls II followed in 2014, while Dark Souls III arrived in 2016. FromSoftware’s official history records both entries as important milestones during the studio’s rise.

Each game approached the formula differently.

Dark Souls II experimented with new environments and systems.

Meanwhile, Dark Souls III moved towards faster combat and connected elements of the trilogy’s mythology.

However, the series did not continue indefinitely.

FromSoftware eventually moved towards new worlds.

That decision proved important.

Rather than releasing Dark Souls forever, the studio began applying its design ideas elsewhere.

Bloodborne created a faster and more aggressive FromSoftware game

Bloodborne arrived in 2015 for PlayStation 4.

Sony Interactive Entertainment published it, while FromSoftware developed it.

The game moved away from medieval fantasy and into the gothic city of Yharnam.

Disease had transformed inhabitants into monstrous creatures.

Players became Hunters and entered a world built around blood, death and increasingly disturbing secrets.

Combat changed too.

Bloodborne encouraged aggression.

Its health recovery mechanics rewarded quickly attacking after taking damage.

Shields became far less important.

Weapons could transform.

Dodging became central.

As a result, Bloodborne proved that FromSoftware could change the rhythm without abandoning its fundamental principles.

Bloodborne also showed the strength of FromSoftware’s art direction

Yharnam remains visually distinctive.

Gothic architecture dominates the city.

Streets feel claustrophobic.

Creatures become increasingly strange.

Eventually, the game’s horror shifts into something far more cosmic.

That transition is one of Bloodborne’s strongest qualities.

The game initially appears to be about hunters fighting beasts.

Later, the player realises the situation is much larger.

FromSoftware rarely explains that transformation directly.

Instead, the player discovers it.

That method of revelation would become even more ambitious in later games.

Hidetaka Miyazaki became central to FromSoftware

It is difficult to discuss modern FromSoftware without Hidetaka Miyazaki.

Miyazaki joined FromSoftware in the 2000s and eventually directed Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls.

He later became company president in 2014.

FromSoftware still lists Hidetaka Miyazaki as Representative Director and President in its current corporate information.

His influence goes beyond individual games.

The modern FromSoftware identity is closely connected with the design principles developed under his direction.

Challenge.

Mystery.

Environmental storytelling.

Ambiguous worlds.

Boss encounters.

Indirect multiplayer.

Player discovery.

However, FromSoftware is not simply one person.

Hundreds of developers now work across the company’s projects.

That distinction becomes increasingly important as the studio grows.

Sekiro proved FromSoftware could remove build freedom and still succeed

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice launched in 2019.

This time, FromSoftware dramatically reduced some of the role-playing freedom associated with Dark Souls.

Players controlled a defined protagonist rather than creating a completely custom character.

Weapon choice became far more restricted.

There was also no traditional Souls-style multiplayer.

Instead, combat focused heavily on swordplay, posture and deflection.

The result was one of FromSoftware’s most precise combat systems.

Players could not simply solve every challenge by changing their entire build.

They had to learn the sword.

Sekiro turned defence into attack

Traditional action games often encourage avoiding damage.

Sekiro made defending correctly part of the offensive system.

Perfectly timed deflections damage an opponent’s posture.

Eventually, that creates an opening for a killing blow.

Therefore, boss fights become almost rhythmic.

Attack.

Deflect.

Respond.

Pressure.

Hesitation becomes dangerous.

The system feels very different from Dark Souls.

Yet the satisfaction follows the same pattern.

A boss initially appears overwhelming.

Then something clicks.

The player understands the rhythm.

Suddenly, the impossible fight becomes controlled.

Sekiro became another major commercial success

By September 2023, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice had sold more than 10 million copies worldwide.

That result demonstrated something important.

FromSoftware no longer needed the Dark Souls name to attract a large audience.

Bloodborne had already shown that.

Sekiro reinforced it.

Then Elden Ring changed the scale entirely.

Elden Ring became FromSoftware’s biggest game

Elden Ring launched on 25 February 2022.

FromSoftware developed the action RPG in collaboration with Bandai Namco Entertainment, which also handled overseas publishing.

The game took FromSoftware’s familiar design principles and placed them inside a much larger open world.

The Lands Between offered enormous freedom.

Players could follow the main path.

Alternatively, they could disappear in another direction for hours.

That changed how FromSoftware handled difficulty.

A Dark Souls boss could sometimes feel like a wall.

In Elden Ring, players could simply explore somewhere else.

They might discover a better weapon.

Gain levels.

Find a Spirit Ash.

Learn another spell.

Then return.

The challenge remained.

However, the player gained more freedom over how to approach it.

Elden Ring reached an audience FromSoftware had never seen before

The commercial result was extraordinary.

By March 2025, Elden Ring had shipped more than 30 million units worldwide.

That pushed FromSoftware far beyond its earlier commercial scale.

Elden Ring was no longer simply a major success for a respected Japanese developer.

It had become one of the defining games of its generation.

TechnologyBlog has now covered that longevity in our Elden Ring in 2026 feature.

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FromSoftware ↔ Elden Ring

George R. R. Martin helped establish Elden Ring’s mythology

Elden Ring also attracted attention because of George R. R. Martin.

The A Song of Ice and Fire author contributed to the underlying mythology of the game’s world.

FromSoftware then built its game around that foundation.

However, the final experience still feels unmistakably like FromSoftware.

The narrative remains indirect.

Lore exists in fragments.

Characters have complicated histories.

Players piece together events rather than watching everything explained through traditional exposition.

As a result, Elden Ring combined a larger fantasy mythology with the studio’s established method of storytelling.

Shadow of the Erdtree proved Elden Ring could support a massive expansion

FromSoftware returned to Elden Ring with Shadow of the Erdtree in June 2024.

The expansion introduced the Land of Shadow and significantly expanded the game’s world and mythology.

Its commercial performance was also enormous.

Shadow of the Erdtree sold 5 million units within three days of release.

By July 2025, shipments had reached 10 million units worldwide.

Those are remarkable numbers for an expansion.

More importantly, the DLC demonstrated that players were willing to return to Elden Ring years after launch for another difficult adventure.

FromSoftware also brought Armored Core back

While Elden Ring dominated attention, FromSoftware revived one of its oldest franchises.

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon launched on 25 August 2023.

The release arrived a decade after Armored Core: Verdict Day.

However, FromSoftware did not simply convert Armored Core into a mech version of Dark Souls.

The series retained its own identity.

Players build custom machines.

Parts influence weight, movement and combat.

Mission-based progression replaces Elden Ring’s open world.

Combat can be extremely fast.

Vertical movement matters.

Weapon combinations define strategies.

That distinction is important.

FromSoftware has a recognisable design philosophy, but its games are not all the same game wearing different visual themes.

Armored Core VI benefited from FromSoftware’s newer audience

The FromSoftware name carries much more weight today than it did during the earlier Armored Core era.

Millions of players discovered the studio through Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro or Elden Ring.

Consequently, a new Armored Core could reach people who had never touched the series before.

That demonstrates an important change in FromSoftware’s position.

The studio itself is now a brand.

For many players, “a new FromSoftware game” is enough to generate attention regardless of the franchise.

Elden Ring Nightreign showed FromSoftware experimenting again

FromSoftware did not follow Elden Ring with a conventional sequel.

Instead, it created Elden Ring Nightreign.

The standalone game launched on 30 May 2025 as a co-op action survival experience. It supports three-player cooperative play, although a single-player mode is also available.

Nightreign reworks elements of Elden Ring into a different structure.

Players operate under greater time pressure.

Runs are shorter.

The environment changes.

Cooperation becomes much more important.

Therefore, Nightreign does not simply reproduce the open-world Elden Ring formula.

It experiments with it.

That willingness to experiment connects modern FromSoftware with the company that spent the 1990s and 2000s trying wildly different games.

Nightreign became another multi-million seller

Nightreign shipped 2 million units worldwide on its first day.

By July 2025, that figure had reached 5 million units.

That means FromSoftware successfully turned the Elden Ring universe into something capable of supporting more than one type of game.

For the studio’s future, that may matter enormously.

Elden Ring can potentially become a broader franchise without every release needing to be Elden Ring 2.

Elden Ring reached Nintendo Switch 2 in August 2026

FromSoftware expanded the original Elden Ring again in 2026.

Elden Ring Tarnished Edition launched on Nintendo Switch 2 in August. FromSoftware’s corporate history now records the release as an important 2026 milestone.

The package includes the base game, Shadow of the Erdtree and additional content.

This also expanded FromSoftware’s presence on Nintendo hardware.

However, Nintendo Switch 2 is even more important to the studio because another FromSoftware game is coming exclusively to the platform.

The Duskbloods is FromSoftware’s major new 2026 project

The Duskbloods represents another significant experiment.

FromSoftware announced it in April 2025 for Nintendo Switch 2.

The game is a PvPvE multiplayer action title built around online competition and cooperation, with support for up to eight players.

Players take the role of Bloodsworn, individuals who have gained superhuman abilities through special blood.

The premise sounds suitably FromSoftware.

However, the structure is very different from a conventional Souls game.

Online multiplayer sits at the centre.

Players compete with one another while also facing enemies in the world.

As of 4 September 2026, FromSoftware’s official website still lists The Duskbloods simply as coming in 2026.

There is no more precise official release date on the developer’s current product page.

Therefore, TechnologyBlog will not invent one.

The Duskbloods suggests FromSoftware does not want to repeat itself

The Duskbloods is especially interesting because of what it says about the developer.

FromSoftware could spend the next decade making increasingly large variations on Elden Ring.

Instead, it continues experimenting.

Nightreign changed the Elden Ring formula into co-op survival action.

The Duskbloods puts multiplayer at the heart of a new game.

Meanwhile, Armored Core remains mechanically separate from the studio’s fantasy RPGs.

This suggests FromSoftware understands the danger of becoming trapped by its own success.

The Souls formula made the studio famous.

However, FromSoftware appears unwilling to let it become the only thing it creates.

FromSoftware is still relatively small compared with the biggest AAA studios

FromSoftware’s official company profile lists 456 employees as of May 2025.

That is a substantial development organisation.

However, it remains comparatively compact when viewed against global publishers that employ thousands or tens of thousands of people across many studios.

FromSoftware also operates a Tokyo head office and Fukuoka studio.

Its output therefore becomes even more impressive.

Elden Ring.

Shadow of the Erdtree.

Armored Core VI.

Nightreign.

The Duskbloods.

These projects represent several different styles of game produced by a company that remains far smaller than many of the industry’s largest organisations.

FromSoftware is owned within the Kadokawa group

FromSoftware is not an independent company in the strict corporate sense.

Kadokawa Corporation acquired FromSoftware in 2014, bringing the developer into the Kadokawa group.

The ownership structure later expanded.

In 2022, FromSoftware issued new shares to Sixjoy Hong Kong, part of Tencent, and Sony Interactive Entertainment. Kadokawa said the investment would help strengthen FromSoftware’s ability to create game IP and expand the scope of its own global publishing.

FromSoftware’s current corporate page lists its main shareholders as:

• KADOKAWA Corporation
• Sixjoy Hong Kong Limited
• Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.

Therefore, statements that “Sony owns FromSoftware” are misleading.

Sony has a direct investment in the studio, but Kadokawa remains listed as FromSoftware’s main shareholder alongside Sixjoy and Sony.

Sony also owns a major stake in Kadokawa

The corporate picture became more complicated in 2025.

Sony invested roughly ¥50 billion in new Kadokawa shares following a strategic capital and business alliance announced in December 2024.

After the transaction, Sony held roughly 10% of Kadokawa and became its largest shareholder at the time.

However, that did not amount to Sony acquiring Kadokawa outright.

Furthermore, Kadokawa’s shareholder structure has continued changing since then.

Reuters reported in June 2026 that activist investor Oasis Management had become Kadokawa’s largest shareholder with a 13.76% stake ahead of its annual meeting.

Therefore, the cleanest way to describe FromSoftware today is this:

FromSoftware sits within the Kadokawa group, while Sony and Tencent-linked Sixjoy also hold direct stakes in the developer.

Sony additionally holds a significant stake in Kadokawa itself.

That is more accurate than simply calling FromSoftware a Sony studio.

FromSoftware is also becoming more interested in publishing its own games

Historically, FromSoftware has worked with several outside publishers.

Bandai Namco has been particularly important for Dark Souls and Elden Ring.

Sony published Bloodborne and was involved with Demon’s Souls.

Activision published Sekiro in many markets.

Meanwhile, Nintendo is publishing The Duskbloods alongside FromSoftware.

However, FromSoftware has also been increasing its own publishing capabilities.

That was one of the stated reasons behind its 2022 capital raise. Kadokawa specifically said FromSoftware wanted to establish a framework that would expand the scope of its own publishing in the global market.

That could become increasingly important as the FromSoftware name itself grows stronger.

Bandai Namco has played a major role in FromSoftware’s global growth

It would be wrong to tell FromSoftware’s modern story without Bandai Namco Entertainment.

The companies collaborated on Dark Souls.

They later worked together on Elden Ring.

Bandai Namco handles Elden Ring publishing outside Japan, while FromSoftware publishes it domestically.

The same relationship applied to Armored Core VI, with FromSoftware publishing in Japan and Bandai Namco handling other regions.

Nightreign followed a similar structure.

So although FromSoftware is the developer most players associate with these games, publishing and global distribution have frequently involved major partners.

Developer and publisher should not be treated as interchangeable terms.

FromSoftware’s greatest strength may be trust

There is a strange relationship between FromSoftware and its audience.

Players expect the games to be difficult.

They expect important information to be hidden.

They know quests may be obscure.

They know characters may die.

Bosses may be brutal.

The world might barely explain itself.

Yet players still enter.

That happens because FromSoftware has built trust around a specific idea.

The challenge usually has a purpose.

If something seems impossible, there is probably something to learn.

That trust lets the studio demand more patience than many mainstream games would risk.

FromSoftware rarely treats the player as helpless

Modern game design often tries to prevent players from becoming confused.

FromSoftware is more comfortable with uncertainty.

Where do I go?

What does this item do?

Who is this character?

Should I fight this enemy now?

Was that door always there?

Is that NPC lying?

Those questions are part of the experience.

The studio expects players to experiment.

Sometimes they fail.

Sometimes they make the wrong decision.

However, those mistakes can become part of their personal story.

That creates a very different relationship with the game.

Its worlds feel ancient before the player arrives

Another signature is that FromSoftware rarely places players at the beginning of history.

Usually, something has already gone terribly wrong.

Lordran is fading.

Yharnam is diseased.

Ashina is collapsing.

The Lands Between have already been shattered.

Players enter afterwards.

They investigate the remains.

That structure makes the environments feel as though they existed before the player.

Ruins have a reason to exist.

Characters have histories.

Entire civilisations have already failed.

The player therefore behaves partly like an archaeologist.

They are not simply completing missions.

They are trying to understand what happened.

Bosses became FromSoftware’s most visible signature

Boss encounters existed long before FromSoftware.

However, the studio turned them into major cultural events.

Players discuss Malenia.

Ornstein and Smough.

Lady Maria.

Isshin.

Artorias.

Radahn.

Nameless King.

These encounters become remembered not simply because they are difficult.

Presentation plays a major role.

Arena design.

Music.

Animation.

Lore.

Visual scale.

Mechanical rhythm.

The best FromSoftware bosses combine all of these.

Consequently, defeating one can feel like completing a story rather than merely emptying a health bar.

FromSoftware understands the value of restraint

Another interesting part of the studio’s success is what it does not do.

Dark Souls ended as a trilogy.

Bloodborne has not become an annual franchise.

Sekiro has not been followed by multiple sequels.

Armored Core disappeared for a decade before returning.

Even Elden Ring has not yet received a conventional numbered sequel.

Instead, FromSoftware has moved between ideas.

That prevents individual franchises from becoming routine.

It also creates demand.

Players still talk about another Bloodborne partly because FromSoftware and Sony have not repeatedly produced sequels.

Scarcity can strengthen identity.

There is still no confirmed Bloodborne sequel

Bloodborne remains one of the studio’s most requested returns.

However, there is no officially confirmed Bloodborne 2.

TechnologyBlog will therefore not treat rumours, wish lists or repeated social-media speculation as confirmation.

The same principle applies to other possible FromSoftware projects.

Unless the developer, publisher or platform holder announces something, it remains speculation.

As of September 2026, the major upcoming title publicly featured by FromSoftware remains The Duskbloods, scheduled for Nintendo Switch 2 in 2026.

FromSoftware has become more than the creator of Soulslikes

Calling FromSoftware “the Souls studio” makes sense.

However, it is increasingly incomplete.

King’s Field existed before Souls.

Armored Core follows a very different structure.

Sekiro changed combat dramatically.

Nightreign experiments with co-op survival.

The Duskbloods is centred around PvPvE multiplayer.

Meanwhile, Elden Ring transformed the studio’s action RPG design into a large open world.

FromSoftware has a philosophy.

It does not have only one template.

That distinction may become even more important during its next decade.

FromSoftware enters its 40th year in 2026

There is also a remarkable historical detail.

FromSoftware was established on 1 November 1986.

That means the company turns 40 years old in November 2026.

Its journey across those four decades is unusual.

Business application software.

King’s Field.

Armored Core.

Demon’s Souls.

Dark Souls.

Bloodborne.

Sekiro.

Elden Ring.

Nightreign.

Now The Duskbloods.

Few studios have changed their commercial scale so dramatically while retaining such a recognisable design identity.

Why FromSoftware matters in 2026

FromSoftware helped change the vocabulary of game design.

“Soulslike” exists because its games influenced enough developers to create an identifiable genre.

However, influence alone does not explain the studio’s current position.

The numbers have changed.

Elden Ring has passed 30 million units shipped.

Shadow of the Erdtree has reached 10 million units.

Elden Ring Nightreign reached 5 million units by July 2025.

Sekiro passed 10 million copies.

Meanwhile, Armored Core has returned and The Duskbloods is preparing to take FromSoftware further into multiplayer.

FromSoftware is no longer a specialised developer whose difficult games attract a passionate niche.

It is a major global studio.

Yet its games still ask players to accept something increasingly unusual.

They may not understand everything immediately.

They might fail.

They may become lost.

The game may refuse to explain exactly what happened.

And progress might require patience.

FromSoftware trusts that overcoming those obstacles will make the experience more memorable.

For nearly three decades of game development, that philosophy has continued evolving.

Now, approaching the company’s 40th anniversary, it has taken FromSoftware from King’s Field all the way to Elden Ring.

And judging by Nightreign and The Duskbloods, the studio still does not appear interested in standing still.