{"id":40707,"date":"2024-12-02T18:18:09","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T09:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=40707"},"modified":"2024-12-02T18:20:40","modified_gmt":"2024-12-02T09:20:40","slug":"niohs-producer-says-he-would-have-been-fired-if-he-werent-his-own-boss-as-he-looks-back-on-the-games-12-year-long-development-period","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/niohs-producer-says-he-would-have-been-fired-if-he-werent-his-own-boss-as-he-looks-back-on-the-games-12-year-long-development-period\/","title":{"rendered":"Nioh\u2019s producer says he would have been fired if he weren\u2019t his own boss as he looks back on the game\u2019s 12-year-long development period\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Koei Tecmo founder and CEO Yoichi Erikawa, also known by his game creator pseudonym Kou Shibusawa, recently reminisced about the development of Nioh<\/strong> in an interview with Denfaminicogamer<\/a>. The acclaimed action RPG came out in 2017, but famously took 12 years to launch after its initial announcement, going through a drawn out and sporadic development process. Erikawa gives some insight into the main cause of this \u2013 which happens to be himself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talking to Denfaminicogamer, Erikawa says that to this day, he continues to do the final check of games coming out of Koei Tecmo, and the main thing he looks for is whether a game delivers “a new form of entertainment value\u201d or not. When he doesn\u2019t find what he\u2019s looking for, he asks for things to be remade. Erikawa calls Nioh a \u201cclassic example\u201d of this tendency of his. He was the creator of the Nioh IP and general producer of the title, and he had the game scrapped and remade a whopping three times until it met his vision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDevelopment took 12 years. If it were someone working under me doing this, they would have been fired,\u201d Erikawa jokes, before adding that Nioh was \u201ca game I pursued self-indulgently.”\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, he doesn\u2019t seem to regret it, commenting, \u201cEven so, after remaking it three times, we put out a good game. Nioh was created when Koei and Tecmo merged, and it combined the strengths of both companies into something entertaining. As you know, Koei\u2019s forte was historical games, while Tecmo excelled at action games.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For extra context, Nioh’s development first started in 2004, and at this point, it was still being handled only by Koei staff, as the merger with Tecmo came in 2008. The merger coincided with Nioh\u2019s first (and most JRPG-like) build being scrapped and development being reassigned to Dynasty Warriors series developer Omega Force. The second build, headed by Omega Force, ultimately ended up being scrapped as well, after which Tecmo\u2019s Team Ninja (developer of Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive) took over most aspects of development, steering the game into heavier action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Back in 2016, Nioh’s creative director Fumihiko Yasuda told Eurogamer<\/a> that earlier versions of Nioh didn’t live up to Erikawa\u2019s vision, and while he did let Team Ninja do their thing after they took over, he would constantly playtest the game himself, so they could \u201cfeel his watchful eyes\u201d on them.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, however, Nioh was a hit, especially among global audiences. Nioh and its sequel sold nearly 8 million copies, almost 90% of which came from the West.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a related note, Erikawa encourages a policy of company executives doubling as game producers<\/a> at Koei Tecmo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Koei Tecmo CEO and general producer of Nioh talks about the game’s “self-indulgent” development process that took 12 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":40710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-40707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nNioh\u2019s producer says he would have been fired if he weren\u2019t his own boss as he looks back on the game\u2019s 12-year-long development period\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Koei Tecmo CEO and general producer of Nioh talks about the game's "self-indulgent" development process that took 12 years.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/niohs-producer-says-he-would-have-been-fired-if-he-werent-his-own-boss-as-he-looks-back-on-the-games-12-year-long-development-period\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nioh\u2019s producer says he would have been fired if he weren\u2019t his own boss as he looks back on the game\u2019s 12-year-long development period\u00a0 - 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