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Native name | 株式会社フロム・ソフトウェア |
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Romanized name | Kabushiki gaisha furomu sofutowea |
| Company type | Subsidiary (kabushiki gaisha) |
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | November 1, 1986 |
| Founder | Naotoshi Zin |
| Headquarters | , Japan |
Key people | |
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Number of employees | 423 (June 2024) |
| Website | 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.
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 include Bloodborne in 2015, Sekiro in 2019, and Elden Ring in 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, and Bandai Namco Entertainment internationally.