While modern audiences will, no doubt, associate Team Ninja most with the Nioh series, the franchises that helped put them on the map were Dead or Alive and the now legendary action series, Ninja Gaiden. Nioh actually takes a lot of the imagery and weapons from that series. There have been hopes that one day the studio will return to it in some form, maybe even taking some things from Nioh into a new entry, but it seems that won’t be happening anytime soon.
In a lengthy interview with VGC, Team Ninja’s Fumihiko Yasuda spoke about the studio’s future. Mostly it was focused on the Nioh franchise, and he again reiterated that Nioh is done for the time being. He was asked about whether or not the team was currently developing a new Ninja Gaiden game and he answered with a pretty straight-forward no, saying, “No plans currently, but I’ve always wanted to make a new instalment in the series, so here’s hoping for that!”
Of course, take that as you will. Most likely, even if they were developing a new Ninja Gaiden game, they wouldn’t just say it flat-out. It does seem like the developer has been teasing the return of the series for a long time – and we do mean a long time here – but nothing has ever come from it.
A potential trilogy collection leaked not long ago that has not been officially announced, so there could still be hope of something coming down the pipeline. For the time being, however, it seems that Ninja Gaiden will remain in the shadows.
