'Elden Ring': Hidetaka Miyazaki says he was 'anxious' about the game's launch similar to his previous projects

The release of “Elden Ring” has been yet another testament to why Hidetaka Miyazaki is one of the most respected names in game development, especially for fantasy RPG titles. Despite his experience and a long list of successful projects, Miyazaki confirmed that he was still “anxious” about the launch of “Elden Ring.”

In a recent interview with Famitsu, Miyazaki revealed how he always feels around the time of a game’s launch. “It’s the same for all past titles, not just this one, but it’s not a very pleasant time,” Miyazaki said (via VGC). “I’m sure I’m relieved, but I’m more anxious about it. I never get used to it.”

Miyazaki also recognized that there are some parallels between “Elden Ring” and the 2019 action-adventure “Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.” But he noted that it does not necessarily mean the development team for the new game took lessons from the production of “Sekiro.” “However, since I directed both, it is certain that they influenced each other,” Miyazaki added.

He also reiterated that George R.R. Martin’s work for “Elden Ring” took place at the very early stage of the game’s development. It was so early that Miyazaki said some of the elements of the lore, like the large golden tree, were not determined yet at the time.

Miyazaki added that they have not even determined the main object of the lore as being a ring yet when they were developing the “Elden Ring” concepts and lore with Martin. But the video game director maintained Martin had a great influence on how the game’s narrative and visuals came to be. “At first, it wasn’t called the ‘Ring’, but I think he talked about the Elden Ring-like existence and the image of the opportunity for it to break,” the developer said.

While the launch of “Elden Ring” was not without hiccups, it proved to be a hit among critics and players. It has become one of the highest-rated titles released during the current generation of gaming consoles. Despite performance issues experienced on PC early on, SteamDB data shows the “Elden Ring” all-time concurrent players peaked at more than 953,000 last March 3, making it the sixth most played game on Steam in less than a week after it was released.