Dark Souls director in a supervising role for Dark Souls 2, encouraging tighter production schedule

Demon's Souls and Dark Souls director Hidetaka Miyazaki will not be involved in the development of Dark Souls 2, instead stepping back into a less-involved supervising role and assisting with production scheduling, according to an interview with Miyazaki at Edge Online.

Miyazaki told Edge he is looking into server-based networking for Dark Souls 2's online multiplayer, a move away from Dark Souls peer-to-peer system. He has also assisted in nailing down a development schedule, citing player criticism over the numerous polishing patches released post-launch for Dark Souls as a reason for tightening production.

"I'm aware that many fans were a little bit frustrated about Dark Souls in terms of the scheduling — more specifically speaking, about the patches that we've released," he said. "I really regretted that, so I reviewed all those kinds of things that I worked on in Dark Souls to make sure that Dark Souls 2 is ready on time."

Miyazaki also noted that the decision to assign two new directors for Dark Souls 2, FromSoftware veterans Tomohiro Shibuya and Yui Tanimura, was made by FromSoftware and publisher Namco Bandai. While Miyazaki expressed that he is sad about not being involved in development, he is looking forward to playing Dark Souls 2 without the attachment of a developer.

"Miyazaki worked on Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, but for the IP to evolve and provide a new experience within the Dark Souls world the new wind from directors Shibuya and Tanimura is key to providing players with [a] brand new Dark Souls experience," said Namco Bandai producer Takeshi Miyazoe. "In order to maintain the expectations and satisfaction and the rewards that players experience, this was the right time to bring in the new characteristics and taste[s of the directors] for this series to continue on evolving."

Miyazaki shared that he is working as a director on a new IP, but refused to give additional details.