Hidetaka Miyazaki – up there with Joe Biden and a bunch of people we’ve never heard of (pic: Time)



Dark Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki has made the Time 100 Most Influential People list, as he’s praised by the creator of The Last Of Us .



For only the second time ever a video game developer has appeared in Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people of the year. The list isn’t in any particular order but Hidetaka Miyazaki’s entry has been written by Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann.



Druckmann described Elden Ring as ‘a great ambassador for video games and the unique feelings they can effect in the player, feelings that a passive medium like TV can never re-create.’ Which is significant given Druckmann is not only co-creator of The Last Of Us game but also its TV adaptation, on which he worked as both co-writer and director.



‘Miyazaki’s games make the player feel accomplished and smart – and it’s all thanks to his and his team’s uncompromising approach. He refuses to overexplain the mechanics or the lore, but rather puts his trust in the player to figure it out on their own,’ he said.



This is the second time this year that Druckmann has showered Elden Ring with praise , saying In January that he’s ‘intrigued by stuff like Elden Ring and Inside that doesn’t rely as much on traditional narrative to tell its story.’



‘To me, right now, that’s some of the best joy I get out of games that trust their audience to figure things out. [Games] that don’t hold your hand, that’s the stuff I’m really intrigued by going forward,’ he added, implying he wanted to try Miyazaki’s more opaque approach to storytelling.



Given what a fan he seems to be, some sort of collaboration also doesn’t seem out of the question, especially given Sony’s close ties to FromSoftware.







Although it’s a well deserved honour, there’s nothing in the Time entry to actually explain why Miyazaki is considered so influential. So far Elden Ring has had little chance to influence anything and it’s unclear if Miyazaki will launch any new games this year – he is presumably working on Elden Ring’s DLC but that has no confirmed release date.



FromSoftware also has Armored Core 6 out this year but despite that being the franchise that he cut his teeth on, Miyazaki is not known to have any significant role in it.



The only other video game developer to ever be included in the Time 100 list is Mario and Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto in 2007 , during the heyday of the Wii.









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