Releasing on the PlayStation 1 back in 1998, Acquire's Tenchu: Stealth Assassins has become something of a classic in the years since its release, with the brutally challenging stealth ninja game going on to spawn a long-running series of titles. Its final entry dropped in 2008, with the Ubisoft-published Tenchu: Shadow Assassins hitting Wii and PSP to middling reviews.
However, it seems the creator of the series, Takuma Endo, still thinks Tenchu has a lot of potential if it were to return in the near future. In an interview with Weekly Famitsu (which has been translated by Gematsu), the man behind Stealth Assassins' success claimed that he would personally want to be involved in a new iteration of the series, citing he'd be interested in developing "a new Tenchu from the ground up for the PlayStation 5 generation if the possibility arises."
That being said, Endo does clarify that the idea isn't as simple as just putting a new Tenchu into production over at Acquire. As it stands, the franchise is currently owned by Dark Souls developer FromSoftware. In fact, the team originally envisioned Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice as a Tenchu follow-up, before spinning it into a spiritual successor to the series instead. As such, Endo and Acquire will have to jump through some legal hoops to get a new game rolling. However, that's not to say the prospect is entirely impossible, especially considering FromSoftware is seemingly not currently using the Tenchu IP.
A follow-up to the series was heavily rumored back in 2018 after Acquire registered the "Stealth Assassin" trademark, however, the new interview has now clarified that was merely due to it expiring and not a tease of a new title. The conversation also revealed that Endo is looking to launch an "indies brand," which allows developers to work on unique ideas and ship them in short amounts of time. It will allegedly be separate to Acquire, with Endo hoping its first title will launch by the tail-end of 2021. According to Gematsu, the first game teased from the project takes place on "a small star with World of Final Fantasy-esque characters."
Back before Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was announced in 2017, the teaser images shared by FromSoftware were heavily believed to be from a Tenchu follow-up, with fans sharing their excitement for the series to finally return over so many years. If Endo and Acquire were to bring the series back during the PlayStation 5's lifecycle, it's sure to conjure the same reactions from the series' diehard fanbase.
Source: Gematsu