Rise of the Ronin launches exclusively on PS5 this Friday from Nioh developer Team Ninja. However, the studio’s parent company, Koei Tecmo, says it hopes to sell 5 million copies of the game. With the review embargo dropping this week Thursday, it remains to be seen if the anticipated upcoming action-RPG will reach a much wider audience than Team Ninja’s previous efforts.
As spotted by PlayStation LifeStyle, Koei Tecmo revealed its short and long-term strategies in a recent post, listing a “5 million package game (new IP)” under the heading “priority goals.” While Rise of the Ronin isn’t explicitly mentioned, we can’t think of any other upcoming ‘new IP’ that fits the bill.
Even with the backing and extensive marketing of Sony Interactive Entertainment, 5 million copies is quite an ambitious number to aim for by Koei Tecmo’s standards. The publisher’s last game, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, sold around 1 million copies as of April 2023, though it’s possible that the number went up since then. We also have to take into account that Wo Long launched day one on Xbox Game Pass, which means it was accessible through Microsoft’s subscription service at a lower cost as opposed to being purchased for full price.
Rise of the Ronin does have a lot going for it that could potentially make it far more enticing to casual audiences than Team Ninja’s previous Soulslike efforts, though. For instance, it’s the first Soulslike title from the developer to feature difficulty options, meaning newcomers to the genre can lower the difficulty settings, providing an easy point of entry. It’s also an expansive open-world Japan-based game in the vein of Ghost of Tsushima – something that could broaden its reach as well.
If you’re still on the fence about picking up Rise of the Ronin when it launches this Friday, make sure you read our preview.
Source: PlayStation LifeStyle
