Three years after the original Nioh exploded onto the gaming scene, Team Ninja's highly-anticipated action role-playing game Nioh 2 will launch on Sony's PlayStation 4 in March. After that, Team Ninja's leader Yosuke Hayashi told Eurogamer Portugal that the studio is interested in creating a brand-new series for the upcoming PlayStation 5 during an interview published Wednesday.
Eurogamer Portugal Editor Bruno Galvao sat down with Hayashi after getting some time to play Nioh 2. While much of their conversation reportedly centered around the impending sequel, the two also discussed Team Ninja's interest in bringing a new property to the PlayStation 5 like Nioh was introduced on the PlayStation 4.
Based on a Google translation of the article, Hayashi apparently did not confirm whether he has already worked with the next-generation console, though it's likely he may have considering the access provided to other studios. A survey published by the Game Developers Conference last month showed that of the about 4,000 developers polled, more are currently working on games for Sony's PlayStation 5 than Microsoft's Xbox Series X.
Team Ninja is an eclectic studio in terms of its output per console generation, which Eurogamer Portugal also points out in its article. Novel games like Nioh coincide with titles like Dead or Alive 6 and tie-in properties like Fire Emblem Warriors or Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, which recently announced Doctor Doom as DLC.
Obviously there is not much that can be said about a potential future property coming out of Team Ninja other than "there's interest," since a majority of the conversation was focused on promoting Nioh. Fans of that series would probably be happy to know that in another portion of the interview published in English, Hayashi stressed a focus on combat variety in Nioh 2.
As of now the PlayStation 4 is still rounding out its life cycle with a number of big exclusives like Nioh 2 and The Last of Us 2, but it's interesting to know that developers like Team Ninja are already focused on what's next. However both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X may face delays due to coronavirus concerns in China where the brunt of console manufacturing is undertaken, so there may be time to mull over ideas.
Nioh 2 launches for the PS4 on March 13th, and will come to PC at an unspecified date in 2020.
Source: Eurogamer Portugal