In what could possibly be simultaneously the most and least shocking news story you’ll read this week, we have been told that all of Team Ninja’s staff, approximately 200 strong, are qualified as true ninja.
We spoke with Nioh franchise director Fumihiko Yasuda and couldn’t help but ask about whether or not the staff’s qualifications lined up with what you’d expect from a development studio named Team Ninja, and Yasuda-san gave us his assurance that they all live up to the expectations put upon them with a name like Team Ninja.
When asked about how many staff members were qualified as ninja, Yasuda-san told us the following:
“There are 200 staff members in Team Ninja, and they are all ninja.”
Yasuda-san may have let out a wry laugh while finding his answer, and we can’t guarantee that all of his staff run like Naruto and throw shuriken stars, but it’s clear enough that Yasuda-san is proud of the staff that work alongside him on games like Nioh 2, and the other projects they have in development.
Nioh 2 on PC is launching alongside the Nioh Collection on February 5, and Yasuda-san gave us some valuable and rare insight in our full interview with the man.
In our review of Nioh 2, we commented on its harsh difficulty, saying:
“This game is hard. Unbelievably hard. Even the simplest, least threatening enemy can flat-out murder you in the blink of an eye. There's no such thing as a pushover enemy in Nioh 2. Everyone and everything can kill you if you hesitate for even a moment. You need to master the stances, the Ki Pulse, the Yokai Shift and all of the other various mechanics or else you're going to walking in and out of boss areas after you die over and over.”
Ninja are damn good protagonists for a video game franchise because they tend to work alone and have a decent variety of weaponry and ninja abilities at their disposal - at least that’s what Naruto tells me. We have a list of the top ten video games in which you can play as a ninja right here for some more inspiration.
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