No, he said he doesn't play them AFTER they release. But he plays them constantly when they're in development. One of the difficulty rules at FromSoft is that each boss and area has to be beatable by Miyazaki (which he said is a good baseline, because he likes challenge but doesn't consider himself good at games).
I checked and you are right. Thanks for the correction.
It would be truly impressive if he was able to direct the development of Souls games into what they are without actually playing them.
I wonder who he does consider good at games. FromSoft games are so hard that Dark Souls is a synonym for "really hard game". If someone can beat one of those games, I think it's fair to say they are good at games.
My understanding is he uses AI summons/etc so he's not one of the git gud crowd who believes if you don't beat it straight you suck.
He would not be able to beat the first boss probably
He's beaten nameless king, pre-nerf radahn, melania etc.