Rise of the Ronin director Fumihiko Yasuda and producer Yosuke Hayashi have revealed that the reason for the game’s PlayStation exclusivity largely came down to the fact that Sony helped with its development.
In an interview with RPG Site, the duo acknowledged that while PlayStation supported Koei Tecmo and Team Ninja with publishing and localisation for the Nioh games, PlayStation Studios was, in some way, involved throughout the development of Rise of the Ronin.
“We received support in publishing and localization for the Nioh series, but for Rise of the Ronin, in addition to that, PlayStation Studios was involved in almost the entire PS5 version development process,” said Yasuda when asked about working with Sony.
“They shared valuable insights on various aspects, including accessibility and improving onboarding accuracy, which not only enhanced the value of the title but also provided a significant experience for Team Ninja.”
Hayashi goes on to say that, without the support of PlayStation, Rise of the Ronin wouldn’t even have been started as a project. He goes on to thank the teams at PlayStation Studios for their support in releasing the game.
“This project would not have started without the support of PlayStation Studios,” said Hayashi. “We are extremely grateful to the PlayStation Studios team for lending their strength to this new challenge.”
In the same interview, Yasuda also spoke about the popularity of the Nintendo Switch in Japan, noting that he is paying close attention to how things are going to change when the Nintendo Switch 2 is finally released. In the meantime, the PC has also gained quite a bit of traction in Japan as a gaming platform.
“In terms of consoles, there has been a long-standing situation in Japan where there is a significant number of Switch players, and I am closely watching how this will change with the release of Switch 2,” said Yasuda.
“For games like the ones we create, there are many PS5 players, but I also feel that the number of PC players has significantly increased in Japan over the past few years.”.
This is far from the first time that Yasuda has referenced PlayStation Studios when it comes to the development of Rise of the Ronin. While Sucker Punch wasn’t directly involved with the game, Yasuda does note that its open world title, Ghost of Tsushima, served as one of the major points of reference during the development of Rise of the Ronin.
This largely came down to the fact that Rise of the Ronin was going to be Team Ninja’s first open world game; its previous series, Nioh, is more level-based, with players picking the next stage to tackle through menus.
Rise of the Ronin was recently released on PC. Check out our review of the port here. Back when the PS5 release happened last year (review here), Koei Tecmo had also revealed that it had become the best-selling game in the company’s history so far. Leading up to that announcement, Rise of the Ronin was surpassing the Nioh franchise shortly after its PS5 release.
