Team Ninja’s Rise of the Ronin, based on 19th-century Japan, is about to complete its first month, and unfortunately, things are not going as planned. The developer hoped this RPG would be a masterpiece like Ghost of Tsushima and set sales targets as high as 5 million units.
Although Sony’s PS5 exclusive had a decent launch, it later lost popularity, resulting in the publisher lowering its sales forecast and operating income. It looks like the criticism about Rise of the Ronin hasn’t caused any changes in Team Ninja’s plans. Fumihiko Yasuda’s 2025 announcement and plans to tighten things up even further continue.
Team Ninja Isn’t Changing Plans After Recent Rise of the Ronin Criticism, But a New Game is Coming in 2025
Last year, Team Ninja director Fumihiko Yasuda said they wanted to release a new game in 2025. He also underlined that they will be more transparent and inform fans whenever possible. Apparently, the fact that Rise of the Ronin, released last month, did not meet sales expectations did not change the studio’s plans.
Well, as there is no new statement by Team Ninja, the 2025 announcement remains valid and coincides with the plan that Yasuda said they want to release a game every year. The name of the title that will be released next year is unknown, but looking at past statements, we can say that this will not be a new Ninja Gaiden or the Dead or Alive reboot. Although the studio says that it values these series, it seems that they do not have such plans for now.
However, that doesn’t mean things won’t change in the future, as Yasuda hinted at a potential surprise by saying he wants to be the first to talk about it when the time comes.
Fumihiko Yasuda: "We want to release a new game in 2025. We hope to tell you about it when we can.
— ハオ(ハンスケ) (@Hansuke21) March 1, 2023
The development team's growth will be slow if we keep repeating the process of releasing one game over a number of years. We have a plan to release a game every year.
The reason behind Team Ninja’s desire to shorten the release window of their games is to accelerate the growth of the development team. At least Yasuda thinks so and signals that they will keep things tight based on their plan to release one game every year.
What’s the Latest on Rise of the Ronin?
For those who don’t remember, producer Yosuke Hayashi made the following statements in an interview a week before the game was released:
“Ever since I joined Koei Tecmo Games as a developer, I always wanted to make a game that would conquer the mainstream.”
While this statement showed that the developer and publisher had great faith in the game, the 5 million sales target set was proof of this. However, the game’s bumpy sales figures betrayed this confidence. As a result, it was decided to change the goals originally set for the game.
According to a recently published report, Koei Tecmo reduced its sales forecast by 11% and operating income by 28%. It is even claimed that the publisher missed its sales targets by approximately $70 million.
What do you think about the game? Don’t forget to share your thoughts with us in the comments section.
