{"id":43339,"date":"2025-01-28T18:38:32","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T09:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=43339"},"modified":"2025-01-28T21:21:58","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T12:21:58","slug":"platinumgames-on-ninja-gaiden-4-were-not-making-it-for-team-ninja-were-making-it-together-with-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/platinumgames-on-ninja-gaiden-4-were-not-making-it-for-team-ninja-were-making-it-together-with-them\/","title":{"rendered":"PlatinumGames on Ninja Gaiden 4: We&#8217;re not making it for Team Ninja, we&#8217;re making it together with them\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Last week, action game fans collectively fell out of their chairs when Team Ninja and PlatinumGames suddenly announced they\u2019ve been working on <strong>Ninja Gaiden 4<\/strong>, a brand-new mainline entry set to release on PC, PS5 and Xbox in Fall 2025.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although Koei Tecmo\u2019s Team Ninja has previously stated that they would be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.videogameschronicle.com\/features\/interviews\/interview-team-ninja-on-wo-long-ninja-gaidens-future-and-more\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">open to the possibility<\/a> of outsourcing development to another company, their collaboration with Bayonetta and NieR: Automata developer PlatinumGames has understandably come as a big surprise.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"NINJA GAIDEN 4 Official Announce Trailer | Developer_Direct 2025\" width=\"1160\" height=\"653\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/08vbgX9lpWY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In a joint media interview following the initial announcement (reported on by <a href=\"https:\/\/game.watch.impress.co.jp\/docs\/interview\/1657901.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">GameWatch<\/a>), the two developers talked about the nature of their collaboration. The interview was given by Yuji Nakao, Ninja Gaiden 4&#8217;s co-director and co-producer from Platinum Games, and Fumihiko Yasuda, the title\u2019s co-producer at Team Ninja.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To begin with, the two action game studios\u2019 decision to team up came from &nbsp;the close relationship between Koei Tecmo Games\u2019 president Hisashi Koinuma and PlatinumGames\u2019 CEO Atsushi Inaba. The two consulted about the project and presented it to Microsoft\u2019s Phil Spencer, who readily agreed to a collaboration between the three companies.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1267\" height=\"710\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1267px) 100vw, 1267px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250128-43339-002.jpg\" alt=\"Ninja Gaiden 4\" class=\"wp-image-43342\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250128-43339-002.jpg 1267w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250128-43339-002-380x213.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250128-43339-002-768x430.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When asked about whether Team Ninja really needed to enlist the help of another studio for Ninja Gaiden 4, Yasuda commented, \u201cWe\u2019ve been entrusted with other company\u2019s IPs in the past ourselves, and we\u2019ve 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.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PlatinumGames\u2019 Nakao chimed in on the topic too, adding \u201cWe were entrusted with making the game<s> <\/s>, but actually, we had a strong desire to work together [with Team Ninja] as two action game developers.\u201d This desire was born from the aim &#8220;to elevate Koei Tecmo\u2019s legendary IP to the greatest heights possible.\u201d In that sense, Nakao explains, &#8220;rather than making [Ninja Gaiden 4] <em>for <\/em>them, we\u2019ve always thought about it as making the game together.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1265\" height=\"703\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1265px) 100vw, 1265px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250128-43339-003.jpg\" alt=\"Ninja Gaiden 4\" class=\"wp-image-43343\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250128-43339-003.jpg 1265w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250128-43339-003-380x211.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250128-43339-003-768x427.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Yasuda explains that Team Ninja is still heavily involved in Ninja Gaiden\u2019s development, with members like K\u014dhei Shibata (producer of Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection) and Masakazu Hirayama (director of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty) on board.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This includes weaving in some of PlatinumGames\u2019 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 &nbsp;a \u201csense of catharsis,\u201d as Nakao describes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1265\" height=\"711\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1265px) 100vw, 1265px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250128-43339-004.jpg\" alt=\"Ninja Gaiden 4\" class=\"wp-image-43344\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250128-43339-004.jpg 1265w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250128-43339-004-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/20250128-43339-004-768x432.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Ninja Gaiden 4 is set to launch in Fall 2025 for the PC, PS5 and Xbox.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Koei Tecmo&#8217;s Team Ninja and PlatinumGames talk about the nature of their collaboration on the upcoming Ninja Gaiden 4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":43341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-43339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43339"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43347,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43339\/revisions\/43347"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}