Team Ninja

is a Japanese video game developer, and a division of Koei Tecmo, founded in 1995 as a part of Tecmo. It is founded and formerly led by Tomonobu Itagaki, later by Yosuke Hayashi, and is best known for the ''Ninja Gaiden'' action-adventure game series and the '' Dead or Alive'' fighting game series.

History

Team Ninja was formed by Tomonobu Itagaki from a group of game designers working at Tecmo specifically for the purpose of creating the home versions of the fighting game series '' Dead or Alive''. In 2008, the action-adventure game ''Ninja Gaiden II'' for the Xbox 360 was published by Microsoft Game Studios, making it the first game created by Team Ninja to not be published by Tecmo; Tecmo Koei later released an enhanced version of ''Ninja Gaiden II'' on the PlayStation 3 as ''Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2''.

On June 3, 2008, Itagaki announced that he would be leaving Tecmo and Team Ninja on July 1, 2008, citing difficulties with the company. In the same statement announcing his resignation, he also announced that he was filing a lawsuit against Tecmo president, Yoshimi Yasuda, over unpaid bonuses for his work on ''Dead or Alive 4'' for the Xbox 360. It was later reported that he was fired from Tecmo on June 18, 2008 in retaliation for his lawsuit. Many of his colleagues at Team Ninja quit as well to join him at his new game development team, Valhalla Game Studios. Some ex-Team Ninja members also helped with Ubisoft's '' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash-Up''.

Team Ninja also worked on multiple titles for Nintendo. In 2010, Team Ninja co-developed a new ''Metroid'' action-adventure game for Nintendo's Wii console, titled '' Metroid: Other M'' (a playable Stage from ''Other M'' later appeared in '' Dead or Alive: Dimensions''). While being well known for their development of the '' Dead or Alive'' series of games, ''SEGA AM2'' has since collaborated with Team Ninja on the development of the franchise since 2012, starting with '' Dead or Alive 5'' including the updated versions of the games, such as '' Dead or Alive 5: Last Round'' as well as ''Dead or Alive 6'', the latter of which is utilizing a revised graphics engine made by '' SEGA AM2'' specifically for the latest installment in the series. They also collaborated with Omega Force for ''Hyrule Warriors'', an action game set in ''The Legend of Zelda'' universe, in 2014.

In 2013, following a reconstructing of Koei Tecmo, Team Ninja was split into two distinct development teams. They are dubbed Ichigaya Development Group 1 (led by ''Ninja Gaiden Sigma'' director Yosuke Hayashi) and Ichigaya Development Group 2 (led by ''Fatal Frame'' producer Keisuke Kikuchi).

In 2016, Team Ninja garnered public attention after their decision to not release ''Dead or Alive Xtreme 3'' in North America or Europe, resulting in a controversy within the video game industry about the sexualised portrayal of female characters within their games. Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Shuhei Yoshida said in a statement; "It's due to cultural differences. The West has its own thinking about how to depict women in games media which is different from Japan."

In 2017, Team Ninja released their new action-adventure game ''Nioh'', which has received multiple revisions and has been in development since 2004, to great critical response. They released '' Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order'' for the Nintendo Switch in 2019 as well as ''Dead or Alive 6''. Team Ninja released the prequel to ''Nioh'', ''Nioh 2'', in March 2020. Team Ninja released compilation, '' Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection'', in June 2021.

As of 2022, Yosuke Hayashi had left Team Ninja to serve as the general manager of Koei Tecmo's entertainment division, with Fumihiko Yasuda replacing him as president.

Games

Cancelled games

* '' Dead or Alive: Code Chronos'' - A prequel to the ''Dead or Alive'' series, which was going to focus on the backstory of Kasumi and Ayane, and reportedly was not going to be a fighting game. It was cancelled in November 2010.
* ''Ninja Gaiden 3DS'' - A Nintendo 3DS project announced by Team Ninja in 2011. It was quietly cancelled at a later date.

References

External links

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Book publishing companies of Japan
Comic book publishing companies of Japan
Japanese companies established in 1995
Koei Tecmo
Video game development companies
Video game companies established in 1995
Video game companies of Japan
Publishing companies established in 1995