Game news “If I hadn't been the boss, I would have been fired!”, 13 years of development for this video game, its release was a miracle
Published on 05/12/2024 at 5:00 p.m.
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Normally, when a game takes too long to be developed, the project is abandoned, and sometimes the developer is fired. But when you are in charge, life is simpler, and you can take your time.
A chaotic journey
This game that took so long to develop is none other than Nioh, the Action-RPG. In fact, the latter had been announced in 2004then under another name: “Oni”. Yet, we will have to wait until 2017 to play it, available on PC, PS4 and now on PS5. Yoichi Erikawa, PDG de l'entreprise Koei Tecmorecently revealed in an interview behind the scenes of this long process. In fact, he claims to do regular checks on the games that are due to be released, looking for a very specific criterion: the game must include “a new form of entertainment”. If this is not the case, he then asks to redo everything.
However, he says of Nioh that the game is a “classic example” of this phenomenonsince the game was (re)done entirely three times. First in 2009, during the merger of the Koei and Tecmo companies, and the studio Omega Force – known for Dynasty Warriors – took over the project from the hands of the Koei team. Then, it's Team Ninja – known for Dead or Alive – who took over the development of the game. The Japanese businessman joked about the thirteen long years of development he is responsible for: “If I hadn't been the boss, I would have been fired!”
A wait that was worth it
Yoichi Erikawa says that after remaking the game three times, they “came out with a good game.” And the figures seem to prove him right: Nioh, its sequel Nioh 2 (2020) and the Nioh Collection version (2021) total over 7 million sales. According to him, one of the reasons for his success is the fusion de Koeiwhose strong point would be “historical games”, you're from Tecmowho “excelled at action games”. Also, the synopsis of the historical action RPG makes you want: we play William, an Irish navigator who becomes a samurai in the Japanese feudal era.
The game mixes history and fantasyin a universe drawn from the Sengoku era (15th and 16th centuries in Japan). Besides, the main character is inspired by a historical figure: William Adams. The latter is considered to be the first Englishman to have reached Japan, in the year 1600, and would have acquired the title of Samurai. The gameplay, considered relatively difficult, offers a stimulating experience that makes the game “Souls-like”.
