Rise of the Ronin already outselling the Nioh series, says Koei Tecmo

Rise of the Ronin has been out for over a month, but Koei Tecmo is already singing its praises.

In its writeup for the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the developer singles out Team Ninja’s newest action title. It claims sales have already surpassed the two Nioh games, and has a “high valuation” with players.

It’s worth noted both Nioh games collectively sold 7 million units as of October 2022. It may be the studio is comparing Ronin’s sales to those games’ initial start—within a month, those games sold sold over 3 million and 2 million units, respectively.

Like both Nioh games, Sony Interactive published Ronin, which is currently a PlayStation 5 exclusive. It’s unclear when it’ll be ported to PC, and if Koei Tecmo will handle publishing duties for it.

Rise of the Ronin a “significant step” towards Koei Tecmo’s big goalRegardless, the publisher appears to be quite proud of Rise of the Ronin. The action-RPG was noted as a “significant step” for its mid to long-term growth, and one that “raised the level of our development, technology, and management.”

Speaking to its overall fiscal year performance, Koei Tecmo ended the year with ¥84.58 million (or $536,87 million). While it’s up 6.16 percent from the 2022-2023 year, it remained behind the hopeful target of ¥95 million yen.

Part of the blame can be attributed to higher than expected outsourcing costs, along with a title delayed to the 2024-2025 year. Koei Tecmo further noted that overseas, there was a decrease in sales for new console titles.

Japan contributed to the majority of its revenue with ¥50.8 million, while Asia followed behind at ¥33.76 million. North America and Europe brought up the rear with ¥7.78 million and ¥3.54 million, respectively.

Throughout its report, Koei Tecmo talks of wanting to rise into the triple-A space. One method it’s taking is the launch of a triple-A studio that’s reportedly begun work on its debut project.

That unnamed developer is said to be making a game that “transcends the framework of [our] brand system,” and is expected to launch major console titles on a consistent basis.

About the Author(s)

Contributing Editor, GameDeveloper.com

A Kansas City, MO native, Justin Carter has written for numerous sites including IGN, Polygon, and SyFy Wire. In addition to Game Developer, his writing can be found at io9 over on Gizmodo. Don’t ask him about how much gum he’s had, because the answer will be more than he’s willing to admit.