Unlike other recent games developed by From Software, the next game from the team, Sekiro Shadows Die Twice, will be published by Activision. In a fresh interview, director Hidetaka Miyazaki himself revealed that Activision isn’t just publishing the game.
Speaking with Famitsu, as translated by Reddit user Jase_the_Muss, Hidetaka Miyazaki explained that Activision has been chosen as publisher since they could give the team advice during the course of development. Miyazaki further expanded on the matter, saying that the pblisher is offering advice on how to improve the game, focusing on ease of play, comfort and even introducing tutorials.
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It’s been widely reported that From is working with Activision on this title. What kind of collaboration exists?
Miyazaki: Excluding actual game development and sales within Japan and Asia, we’ve left sales in the rest of the world to Activision. One of the most significant reasons for choosing Activision as a publisher was that they could give us advice about the entire length of game development.
We don’t often hear of From working with that level of collaboration!?
Miyazaki: That’s right. But let me say this clearly: all decisions about game development are made by us. Activision respects the game that we are making, and that we desire to make, and offers play impressions as well as advice about what we could do to improve the game. As always, we ask that all decisions after the title screen be left to us, and we’ve been successful in collaborating under this framework.
I didn’t expect that Activision would be involved in the creative aspects of the game.
Miyazaki: “Creative aspects” is quite vague, but what Activision principally focuses on is ease of play, comfort, and appropriate onboarding [tutorial-ish]. It’s embarassing to say, but we’re not particularly strong in those areas, so it helps greatly.
Speaking about difficulty, Miyazaki explained that the team’s approach for Sekiro Shadows Die Twice is different than in the past. The main idea is to make a game that is more difficult than previous games from the team, but at the same time that it will allow players to use creativity to overcome challenges. As such, the aim is to make a game that is neither difficult nor simple.
It seems like this title will incorporate many features to balance its difficulty. In your opinion, how does this game’s difficulty compare to your previous works?
Miyazaki: The idea is to make a game that is more difficult than previous entries, but that will allow you to use creativity in addition to action to overcome those challenges. On one hand, we don’t want to disappoint the players looking for a hardcore game, but we also want as many people as possible to be able to experience the pleasure of overcoming a challenge. In order to achieve both those goals, we’ve implemented many systems that we will continue to adjust. At the least, we don’t want to make that is excessively difficult or excessively simple.
Sekiro Shadows Die Twice launches next year on PC and consoles.
