In 2019, Hidetaka Miyazaki, head of From Software and creator of titles such as Dark Souls and Sekiro, spoke with Fumito Ueda, creator of works such as Shadow of Colossus.
Both of these Japanese directors announced in this meeting that gameplay is always a priority for them, above the story, and they prefer the gameplay to shape the story, not the other way around. Ueda has said that he has a large-scale narrative plan in mind before production, but the dialogue and story take shape at the end of the production process. He believes that visual output and artwork define a game.
Miyazaki also confirmed his words and said that gameplay is the soul of video games, and to make a game, he always designs the stages and gameplay first, and when everything is planned correctly, then he goes to Lore and a story that fits that gameplay.
At the end, Miyazaki noted that this is not the only way to design a video game and that he would like to one day make his own narrative-driven game, but with a unique and different flavor; He cited Red Dead Redemption 2 as a story-driven game.
