Team Ninja’s Boss Recalls Nioh’s Troublesome 12-Year Development

Feudal Japan was a historical period during which many video games were set, and the dream of becoming a samurai affected not only Japanese residents but also those outside the country. For example, Team Ninja’s action RPG Nioh features William Adams, an Irish sailor who became a samurai.

This commercially successful franchise didn’t come easy, as it had been in development for over 12 years before its 2017 launch and was scrapped three times during that period. Yoichi Erikawa, founder and CEO of Koei Tecmo, recently recalled the game’s troublesome creation process in an interview with Denfaminicogamer and admitted that the main cause was no one else but himself. 

“Development took 12 years. If it were someone working under me doing this, they would have been fired,” he joked. (Thanks, Automaton) The development period of more than a decade saw several changes in its development team. When announced in 2004, it was originally handled by Koei, but the project was scrapped around 2008, around the same time as the merger with Tecmo. The development was then reassigned to Omega Force, a division of Koei Tecmo; however, they were unable to complete it as co-producer Kou Shibusawa was not satisfied with the direction of the game. In 2010, Team Ninja was brought in to work on the action gameplay. By 2012, Team Ninja had taken full control of the development.

Despite the lengthy and troublesome development of the game, with which he “pursued self-indulgently,” the franchise received favorable reviews when it was finally released, and the sales surpassed seven million by the end of 2022. This is undeniably a happy ending, as Erikawa admitted, “Even so, after remaking it three times, we put out a good game.” 

A lesson learned from Nioh is that since then, if Erikawa couldn't find “a new form of entertainment value” in the title they were working on, he would ask for a remake until he found “what he’s looking for.”