The Nioh franchise has just reached a very impressive milestone. Team Ninja's Souls-like action role-playing ninja series has reached 5 million copies sold worldwide; doing so in just over four years since the original Nioh launched in 2017.
When the first Nioh was released, it was quickly compared to the likes of Bloodborne and Dark Souls. However, the Nioh games are different than the Souls-like games in combat and gameplay, theme, storytelling, and more. Over time the series has caught on, and now the franchise has reached a celebratory milestone.
Between the Nioh games, the franchise has now reached over 5 million copies, according to a tweet from @nioh_game and some helpful translation from @Nibellion on Twitter. On top of that, Team Ninja also dropped a little tease about looking forward to what the developer has next.
The successful sales numbers of the Nioh franchise likely have to do with Team Ninja making the games available on as many platforms as possible, along with bringing them to the PlayStation 5 generation. In 2021, both Nioh and Nioh 2 were brought to the PS5. Meanwhile, Nioh 2 finally saw its PC release this year as well.
There were a lot of positives when it came to the new versions of Nioh 2 on the PS5, including cross-save functionality. Features like this--little as they may seem at a glance--help drive up sales. Players were able to upgrade from the PS4 to the PS5 version for free. But that meant that other interested parties (friends and onlookers) would see players continuing to enjoy the game and perhaps pick it up themselves. Small quality of life improvements and consumer-friendly features like this can make a big difference.
The hint of looking forward to more announcements or games this year in the tweet is exciting, as Team Ninja has teased that something is on the way in 2021. That new work is likely not Nioh, however. The Japanese developer has indicated that the series is currently put on hold.
According to an interview, Team Ninja is not working on Nioh 3 or Ninja Gaiden and is instead working on entirely new projects. This is both disappointing and intriguing. Nioh did not exist five years ago, so a new Ninja product could very well be the "new Nioh" very soon. That being said, there is clearly an appetite for the game and franchise, based on sales alone, so hopefully, the developer dips back into the games at some point in the near future.
Nioh 2Â is available now for PC, PS4, and PS5.
