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Elden Ring Nightreign: FromSoftware Game Director Explains Why the Spin-Off Exists, Reveals Whether George R. R. Martin Was Involved, and Why Fans Shouldn’t Call It a Live Service - IGN
IGN's big interview with Elden Ring Nightreign developer FromSoftware.
More in the full interview.
Ahead of the game’s reveal, IGN’s Tristan Ogilvie got the chance to play Elden Ring Nightreign (check out our impressions here) and interview game director Junya Ishizaki to find out where this surprise departure from the hugely successful Souls formula came from, how it all fits in with Elden Ring itself, and whether it should be considered a live service game.
IGN: This game is a huge surprise to me. I can imagine it's going to be a huge surprise to the fans next week. So I'd really like to hear about the initial kind of concept, and how you kind of came up with the idea, for the game, in the beginning.
Junya Ishizaki: As a developer, I had many ideas for what could potentially be new games during the development of the past titles I've worked on, including Elden ring. This time I stepped up as a new director, I was given the opportunity to direct this idea for Nightreign.
We've always been seen as a company that makes these Soulslikes or this kind of traditional formula of Soulslike games and so I saw this as an opportunity to do something different. To challenge both myself and the company to build something new while still using what we've cultivated with our previous titles. Also personally, I enjoy these co-op multiplayer experiences and I wanted to make something that was very much focused on that with Nightreign.
IGN: Do you think it’s risky at all, at this point, to launch a new multiplayer game, given other recent failures like Concord or Suicide Squad? The landscape is quite challenging in the multiplayer space.
Junya Ishizaki: We don't tend to look at the industry and base our game design or our concerns on what's going on in that sort of, more general sense. We feel like if we're making something we're passionate about and that we want to make and that we enjoy playing, we trust the users will share in that experience and hopefully enjoy it as well.
Also, we want to be clear that Nightreign is not like a live service game. Once you you buy Nightreign you get the complete package, everything is unlockable out of the gate. So we want it to be clear that this is what we wanted to make. It's not intended as a live service game.
IGN: So does this mean that George R. R. Martin has no influence on Nightreign’s story or world?
Junya Ishizaki: That’s correct.
IGN: It seems that, given recent news, it's possible that Nightreign could potentially be From Software's last multi-platform game. Do you have any thoughts on the potential Sony acquisition of From Software?
Junya Ishizaki: To be perfectly honest, we just don't know right now at the moment where the discussion currently is at. If it's taking place, we're not privy to it.
IGN: What about the possibility of Nightreign coming to Switch 2?
Junya Ishizaki: I'm afraid we know nothing about the Switch 2 at this point either. So it's difficult to say right now. Sorry.
