Ninja Gaiden 4's Team Ninja and PlatinumGames Collab was Phil Spencer's Idea - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 28 January 2025 / 2,902 Views
Ninja Gaiden 4 was announced last week at the Xbox Developer_Direct 2025 with Team Ninja and PlatinumGames confirmed to be collaborating on the development for the game.
Team Ninja producer Fumihiko Yasuda in an interview with Game Watch revealed it was Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer who proposed Team Ninja work with PlatinumGames on Ninja Gaiden 4.
"I think everyone knows that the Ninja Gaiden series has been on hold for more than a decade, but Team Ninja has been considering making a new title for a long time," said Yasuda (via VideoGamesChronicle).
"However, we were having difficult deciding on a plan. Then [Team Ninja parent company] Koei Tecmo president Hisashi Koinuma and PlatinumGames president Atsushi Inaba, who are from the same generation and are good friends, had a chance to discuss the matter.
"After that, Phil Spencer from Microsoft suggested that the three companies – PlatinumGames, Koei Tecmo and Microsoft – work together on a new numbered title in the Ninja Gaiden series, and that’s how the project got started.
"We have developed action games ourselves, but because we were going to be making a new Ninja Gaiden for the first time in over a decade, PlatinumGames had already made a number of great action titles, such as Bayonetta and NieR: Automata, so we wanted to work with them, and that’s how the collaboration began."
Ninja Gaiden 4 will launch for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC via Steam, and Xbox Game Pass in Fall 2025.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Bluesky.
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I hope it works out for Ninja Gaiden and PlatinumGames. Maybe Platinum will find a new home with Koei Tecmo.
Team Ninja wasn't comfortable making a hack n slash game after they transfered to souls like games which they've done well,
They've butchered ng3 so it's a nice change of pace co developing ng4 with platinum games king of hack and slash
Nice! Those visits to Japan have been paying off.
Call me crazy but i have the feeling Ninja Gaiden 4 could also come to Switch 2. I had the same feeling with Doom: TDA, one day later the rumor in fact came up... (see coments)
Switch 2 getting more support than PS5? Hmm i would not go that far (now) but i wouldn't be surprised if one day Switch (2) gets more 3rd party support (at least physical as the next Xbox will be all digital) than Xbox. Doom selling better on Switch than on XboxOne could be a start. But MS sure likes Nintendo more than Sony. At least no one can say anymore that Nintendo lacks 3rd party. The Switch had the best 3rd party support since the NES. Rockstar act like fools. They know GTA 5 would run on Switch (NS>Xbox360/PS3), it has a far higher userbase (over 150 million- soon MAYBE even the best sold system of all time), yet they refuce porting GTA5. Its pure bias and economically absolute insane leaving out 150 million+ users!! Who is responsible should get forced to do it or fired. GTA (mature games) does not sell well on Nintendo systems? Doom on Switch sold better than Doom on Xbox one. GTA Chinatownwars outsold the PSP version. The average age of players is 25- 34. Ok GTA VI cannot run on Switch (1) but on Switch 2 for sure.
Sounds like it was a case of everyone being at the right place at the right time.
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