PlatinumGames on Ninja Gaiden 4: We’re not making it for Team Ninja, we’re making it together with them 

Last week, action game fans collectively fell out of their chairs when Team Ninja and PlatinumGames suddenly announced they’ve been working on Ninja Gaiden 4, a brand-new mainline entry set to release on PC, PS5 and Xbox in Fall 2025.  

Although Koei Tecmo’s Team Ninja has previously stated that they would be open to the possibility of outsourcing development to another company, their collaboration with Bayonetta and NieR: Automata developer PlatinumGames has understandably come as a big surprise. 

In a joint media interview following the initial announcement (reported on by GameWatch), the two developers talked about the nature of their collaboration. The interview was given by Yuji Nakao, Ninja Gaiden 4’s co-director and co-producer from Platinum Games, and Fumihiko Yasuda, the title’s co-producer at Team Ninja. 

To begin with, the two action game studios’ decision to team up came from  the close relationship between Koei Tecmo Games’ president Hisashi Koinuma and PlatinumGames’ CEO Atsushi Inaba. The two consulted about the project and presented it to Microsoft’s Phil Spencer, who readily agreed to a collaboration between the three companies. 

When asked about whether Team Ninja really needed to enlist the help of another studio for Ninja Gaiden 4, Yasuda commented, “We’ve been entrusted with other company’s IPs in the past ourselves, and we’ve also entrusted others with our projects in the same way. Each of these experiences have allowed us to learn a lot, so this time, we wanted to work with PlatinumGames, who have produced many of our favorite action games.” 

PlatinumGames’ Nakao chimed in on the topic too, adding “We were entrusted with making the game , but actually, we had a strong desire to work together [with Team Ninja] as two action game developers.” This desire was born from the aim “to elevate Koei Tecmo’s legendary IP to the greatest heights possible.” In that sense, Nakao explains, “rather than making [Ninja Gaiden 4] for them, we’ve always thought about it as making the game together.” 

Yasuda explains that Team Ninja is still heavily involved in Ninja Gaiden’s development, with members like Kōhei Shibata (producer of Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection) and Masakazu Hirayama (director of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty) on board. 

The collaboration between the two giants seems to have resulted in a lot of healthy innovation too. Yasuda comments that with Nakao being a big fan of the Ninja Gaiden series, the team was able to preserve its essence, while introducing changes that Team Ninja could not pull off alone. 

This includes weaving in some of PlatinumGames’ taste for flashiness and exaggeration, which should raise player satisfaction levels. Of course, all the tense, fast-paced action and rapid switching between offense and defense is still there. However, Ninja Gaiden 4 will offer an even greater contrast between the moments of tension and relief as you play, giving  a “sense of catharsis,” as Nakao describes. 

Ninja Gaiden 4 is set to launch in Fall 2025 for the PC, PS5 and Xbox.