Time 100 most influential honors Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki

Hidetaka Miyazaki, the FromSoftware president who directed 2022’s massively successful Elden Ring, and practically created the Soulslike sub-genre it follows, was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people of the year. It’s only the second time a video game developer has made the list.

Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann, co-creator of The Last of Us video games and TV franchise, wrote the brief essay for Time that introduced Miyazaki. He was called Elden Ring “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.”

“He refuses to overexplain the mechanics or the lore, but rather puts his trust in the player to figure it out on their own,” Druckmann added.

Since 2004, the Time 100 is published each year. The list includes pop stars and politicians, some of whom have been included multiple times. Time claims that the nominations are selected based on their influence, not for personal fame or power. Miyazaki is listed among 2023’s Time 100 “innovators” alongside Disney CEO Bob Iger, Indigenous chef Sean Sherman, comedian Nathan Fielder, tennis star Iga Swiatek, actor Natasha Lyonne, and others.

Miyazaki’s developers and he were definitely influential. As of February 2018, 20,000,000 copies had been sold. With two-thirds coming within the first month.

The only other video games developer to make the Time 100 was Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto, in 2007 at the zenith of the Wii’s popularity. Miyamoto, although a name finalist in 2008, did not make it to the top 100.

Other familiar faces from pop culture who made the Time 100 include Michael B. Jordan, Neil Gaiman, Doja Cat, Pedro Pascal, Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson, and Ke Huy Quan.