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 goal
Regardless, 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.