Development of Nioh took over 12 years and saw three reboots
, by Thibaut
In an interview with Japanese media, Yoichi Erikawa, founder and CEO of Koei Tecmo, spoke at length about the development hell of Nioh.
Team Ninja's Souls-like took over 12 years to develop, The project was announced back in 2004 under the provisional name "Oni" and only released in early 2017 for the PS4. Of course, the game went through several phases during its inception.
First there was talk of a traditional RPG developed by Koei, then an action-RPG by Omega Force and finally a Ninja Gaiden-inspired action game by Team Ninja.
Erikawa was amused by these anecdotes and took his share of responsibility for the chaos, even hinting that it might have led to his dismissal had he not been at the helm of the company.
"The development took 12 years. If it had been someone working under me doing this, he would have been fired. After starting over three times, we produced a good game. Nioh was created when Koei and Tecmo merged, and it combined the strengths of both companies to make something entertaining. As you know, Koei's forte was historical games, while Tecmo excelled in action games."
Source: news.denfaminicogamer.jp