FromSoftware

FromSoftware, Inc. (stylized as FROM SOFTWARE) is a Japanese video game development and publishing company. It was founded by Naotoshi Zin in Tokyo on November 1, 1986. Initially a developer of business software, the company released their first video game, King's Field, for the PlayStation in 1994. Its success shifted FromSoftware to focus fully on games, with them producing two more King's Field games before the first release of the mecha shooter series Armored Core in 1997.

FromSoftware, Inc.

Native name	株式会社フロム・ソフトウェア
Romanized name	Kabushiki gaisha furomu sofutowea
Company type	Subsidiary (kabushiki gaisha)
Industry	Video games
Founded	November 1, 1986; 38 years ago (1986-11-01)
Founder	Naotoshi Zin
Headquarters	Tokyo , Japan
Key people	Hidetaka Miyazaki (Representative director and president)
Products	King's Field Armored Core Demon's Souls Dark Souls Bloodborne Sekiro Elden Ring
Owner	Kadokawa Corporation (69.66%) Sixjoy Hong Kong (16.25%) Sony Interactive Entertainment (14.09%)
Number of employees	423 (June 2024)
Website	FromSoftware

By the 2000s, FromSoftware's releases included the Echo Night, Shadow Tower, Lost Kingdoms, Otogi, and Another Century's Episode series. The company achieved breakout success by the 2010s with Demon's Souls and the Dark Souls trilogy of action role-playing games. Often cited among the greatest video games ever made, their emphasis on high difficulty and environmental storytelling led to the creation of the Soulslike subgenre that includes Bloodborne (2015), Sekiro (2019), and Elden Ring (2022).

Hidetaka Miyazaki, creator and director of Dark Souls, has served as FromSoftware's representative director and president since 2014, with Zin remaining as an advisor. Miyazaki directs and designs the majority of the company's games in addition to his executive duties. FromSoftware is owned primarily by Kadokawa Corporation, with minority stakes by Tencent subsidiary Sixjoy Hong Kong and Sony Interactive Entertainment. FromSoftware usually self-publishes in Japan and has partnered with publishers such as Agetec, Sony, Bandai Namco Entertainment, Sega, Capcom, Nintendo and Plaion (formerly as Koch Media) internationally.

History

1980s and 1990s

Hidetaka Miyazaki, company president and director of several of their games

FromSoftware was founded in Tokyo by Naotoshi Zin on November 1, 1986, as a developer of business applications.^[1] The company released its first game, King's Field, for the PlayStation in 1994. Despite its commercial success in Japan, the game was not released in other regions, although 1995's King's Field II was released in both North America and Europe in 1996.^[2] After releasing King's Field III in 1996, FromSoftware went on to release the horror game Echo Night and the 1998 role-playing game Shadow Tower. In 1997, FromSoftware released Armored Core, the first release in their flagship Armored Core series of mecha combat games.^[3]

2000s

With the launch of the PlayStation 2 in 2000, FromSoftware released the role-playing games Eternal Ring and Evergrace.^[3] In 2003, FromSoftware published Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven, a stealth game that combines action and adventure elements.^[4] In 2004, FromSoftware bought the rights to the series, excluding the first two games, from Activision.^[5][6] The company also released King's Field IV and Shadow Tower Abyss, in addition to the Lost Kingdoms series for the GameCube.^[3] The company also made a few games exclusive to the Xbox around this time, such as Murakumo: Renegade Mech Pursuit, Otogi: Myth of Demons, Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors, Metal Wolf Chaos, and Chromehounds In 2005, FromSoftware would start to produce a series of licensed games based on the various anime properties under the banner Another Century's Episode.^[3] The same year, the company hosted the video game industry's first internship that let students experience game development through a game creation kit, Adventure Player, for the PlayStation Portable.^[4] In May 2008, FromSoftware underwent a stock split.^[4]

2010s

FromSoftware achieved breakout success in the 2010s,^[4] spurred by the release of Demon's Souls (2009) and Dark Souls (2011), the latter being the first entry in a trilogy whose success led to the creation of a subgenre of action role-playing games known as Soulslike games.^[7] These include Dark Souls II (2014),^[8] Bloodborne (2015),^[9][10] Dark Souls III (2016),^[11] Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (2019),^[12][13] and Elden Ring (2022),^[14][15][16] which have all received several awards and are often listed among the greatest video games of all time.^{[17][18][19][20]} In April 2014, Kadokawa Corporation announced its intention to purchase the company from former shareholder Transcosmos.^[21] Following other restructuring, Souls creator Hidetaka Miyazaki would be promoted to company president the following month and later given the title of representative director.^[22] In January 2016, FromSoftware established a studio in Fukuoka that focuses on creating computer-generated imagery (CGI) assets for their games.^[23][24]

2020s

In August 2022, Sixjoy Hong Kong (a subsidiary of Tencent) and Sony Interactive Entertainment respectively acquired 16.25% and 14.09% of FromSoftware, leaving 69.66% to Kadokawa.^[25] A November 2022 report by GamesIndustry.biz claimed that FromSoftware was paying their employees at sub-standard rates.^[26] The company had 423 employees as of June 2024^[update].^[27] In October 2024, the developer announced a salary increase of approximately 12% for its employees.^[28]

Games

List of games developed by FromSoftware

Year	Title	System	International publisher
1994	King's Field	PlayStation	—
1995	King's Field II	PlayStation	NA: ASCII Entertainment EU: Sony Computer Entertainment
1996	King's Field III	PlayStation	ASCII Entertainment
1997	Armored Core	PlayStation	Sony Computer Entertainment
	Armored Core: Project Phantasma	PlayStation	ASCII Entertainment
1998	Shadow Tower	PlayStation	Agetec
	Echo Night	PlayStation	Agetec
1999	Armored Core: Master of Arena	PlayStation	Agetec
	Spriggan: Lunar Verse	PlayStation	—
	Frame Gride	Dreamcast	—
	Echo Night 2: The Lord of Nightmares	PlayStation	—
2000	Eternal Ring	PlayStation 2	NA: Agetec EU: Ubisoft
	Evergrace	PlayStation 2	NA: Agetec EU: Ubisoft
	Armored Core 2	PlayStation 2	NA: Agetec EU: Ubisoft
	The Adventures of Cookie & Cream	PlayStation 2	NA: Agetec EU: Empire Interactive
2001	Armored Core 2: Another Age	PlayStation 2	NA: Agetec EU: Metro3D
	Forever Kingdom	PlayStation 2	Agetec
	King's Field IV	PlayStation 2	NA: Agetec EU: Metro3D
2002	Armored Core 3	PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable	NA: Agetec EU: Metro3D
	Lost Kingdoms	GameCube	Activision
	Murakumo: Renegade Mech Pursuit	Xbox	Ubisoft
	Otogi: Myth of Demons	Xbox	Sega
2003	Silent Line: Armored Core	PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable	Agetec
	Thousand Land	Xbox	—
	Lost Kingdoms II	GameCube	Activision
	Shadow Tower Abyss	PlayStation 2	—
	Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors	Xbox	Sega
2004	Echo Night: Beyond	PlayStation 2	NA: Agetec EU: Indie Games Productions
	Armored Core: Nexus	PlayStation 2	Agetec
	Kuon	PlayStation 2	NA: Agetec EU: Indie Games Productions
	Armored Core: Nine Breaker	PlayStation 2	NA: Agetec EU: 505 Games
	Armored Core: Formula Front	PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2	NA: Agetec EU: 505 Games
	Metal Wolf Chaos	Xbox, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One	Devolver Digital
2005	Yoshitsune Eiyūden	PlayStation 2	—
	Another Century's Episode	PlayStation 2	Banpresto
	Armored Core: Last Raven	PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable	NA: Agetec EU: 505 Games
2006	Enchanted Arms	Xbox 360, PlayStation 3	Ubisoft
	Another Century's Episode 2	PlayStation 2	Banpresto
	Chromehounds	Xbox 360	Sega
	King's Field: Additional I	PlayStation Portable	—
	King's Field: Additional II	PlayStation Portable	—
	Armored Core 4	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360	NA: Sega EU: 505 Games
2007	Nanpure VOW	Nintendo DS	—
	Iraroji VOW	Nintendo DS	—
	Another Century's Episode 3: The Final	PlayStation 2	Banpresto
2008	Armored Core: For Answer	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360	Ubisoft
	Shadow Assault: Tenchu	Xbox 360	—
2009	Inugamike no Ichizoku	Nintendo DS	Nintendo
	Ninja Blade	Xbox 360, Windows	Microsoft Game Studios
	Demon's Souls	PlayStation 3	JP: Sony Computer Entertainment NA: Atlus PAL: Namco Bandai Partners
	Yatsu Hakamura	Nintendo DS	—
2010	Another Century's Episode: R	PlayStation 3	Banpresto
	Monster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Airou Village	PlayStation Portable	Capcom
2011	Another Century's Episode Portable		Namco Bandai Games
	Dark Souls	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows	Namco Bandai Games
2012	Armored Core V	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360	Namco Bandai Games
	Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn	PlayStation 3	Namco Bandai Games
	Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor	Xbox 360	Capcom
2013	Armored Core: Verdict Day	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360	Namco Bandai Games
2014	Dark Souls II	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows	Bandai Namco Games
2015	Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin	PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox 360, Xbox One	Bandai Namco Games
	Bloodborne	PlayStation 4	Sony Computer Entertainment
	Monster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Airou Village DX	Nintendo 3DS	Capcom
2016	Dark Souls III	PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows	Bandai Namco Entertainment
2018	Déraciné	PlayStation 4 (PlayStation VR)	Sony Interactive Entertainment
	Dark Souls: Remastered	PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Windows, Nintendo Switch	Bandai Namco Entertainment
2019	Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice	PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One, Stadia	Activision
2022	Elden Ring	PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S	Bandai Namco Entertainment
2023	Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon	PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S	Bandai Namco Entertainment
2025	Elden Ring Nightreign	PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S	Bandai Namco Entertainment

References

1. "角川ゲームスとフロム・ソフトウェア「MEDIA BRIEFING 2014 AUTUMN」を開催". GAME Watch. November 25, 2014. Archived from the original on June 6, 2021. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
2. Ciolek, Todd (March 16, 2015). "The History of From Software". ign.com. Archived from the original on March 18, 2015. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
3. Ciolek, Todd (March 16, 2015). "The History of From Software". IGN. p. 1. Archived from the original on March 18, 2015. Retrieved May 20, 2017.
4. "History | FromSoftware". www.fromsoftware.jp. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
5. Fahey, Rob (July 7, 2004). "From Software buys Tenchu rights". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved November 23, 2024.
6. Hirohiko Niizumi (July 6, 2004). "From Software acquires Tenchu brand". GameSpot. Archived from the original on December 13, 2023. Retrieved November 23, 2024.
7. Wildgoose, David (March 7, 2022). "Painfully Difficult: From Software's 30+ Year Journey From PS1 to Elden Ring". IGN. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
8. Nunneley-Jackson, Stephany (October 24, 2014). "Dark Souls 2 wins Game of the Year at Golden Joystick Awards". VG247. Retrieved December 21, 2022.
9. "Eurogamer's Game of the Year 2015". Eurogamer.net. January 2016. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
10. "Edge Presents: The 100 Greatest Video Games of All Time". Edge. August 2017.
11. "Overwatch and Dark Souls 3 win big at this year's Golden Joystick Awards". PC Gamer. November 18, 2016. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
12. Makuch, Eddie (December 13, 2019). "The Game Awards 2019 Winners: Sekiro Takes Game Of The Year". GameSpot. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
13. Hussain, Tamoor (December 17, 2019). "Game Of The Year 2019 – Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice". GameSpot. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
14. "Elden Ring takes top honors at the Japan Game Awards". Japan Times. September 15, 2022.
15. Loveridge, Sam (November 22, 2022). "Here are all the Golden Joystick Awards 2022 winners". GamesRadar+. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
16. Plant, Logan (December 8, 2022). "The Game Awards 2022 Winners: The Full List". IGN. Archived from the original on December 9, 2022. Retrieved December 9, 2022.
17. Kain, Erik (November 22, 2013). "'Dark Souls' Inspired The Design Of Sony's PlayStation 4". Forbes. Archived from the original on October 5, 2018. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
18. Polygon Staff (November 27, 2017). "The 500 Best Video Games of All Time". Polygon.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2018. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
19. Hussain, Tamoor (May 14, 2019). "The Most Influential Games Of The 21st Century: Dark Souls". GameSpot. Archived from the original on May 14, 2019. Retrieved May 21, 2019.
20. Donnelly, Joe (November 23, 2021). "Why Dark Souls has been crowned the best video game of all time". GamesRadar+. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
21. "From Software acquired by Japanese publisher Kadokawa Corporation". Archived from the original on April 29, 2014. Retrieved April 28, 2014.
22. Duwell, Ron (May 23, 2014). "Dark Souls' Hidetaka Miyazaki Promoted to President of From Software". Techno Buffalo. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 25, 2015.
23. "From Software to open new studio in Fukuoka". Gematsu. September 12, 2015. Archived from the original on September 16, 2015. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
24. "FromSoftware to Establish New Studio in Fukuoka in October 2015". FromSoftware. Archived from the original on June 1, 2016. Retrieved June 25, 2016.
25. "Tencent and Sony Interactive Entertainment collectively acquire 30.34 percent of FromSoftware". Gematsu. August 31, 2022. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
26. "How much does From Software crunch?". GamesIndustry.biz. November 29, 2022. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
27. "About". fromsoftware.jp. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
28. "Elden Ring developer FromSoftware announces salary increase of 12%". Eurogamer.net. October 4, 2024. Retrieved October 4, 2024.

External links

• Official website