Team Ninja, styled as Team NINJA, is a Japanese video game development department of Koei Tecmo which was founded in 1995 for Tecmo, Inc. by former leader Tomonobu Itagaki. With its primary headquarters located in Tokyo, Japan, Team Ninja primarily works on and produces games for Tecmo (however the team has also produced games for Nintendo and Square Enix original series like Metroid or Final Fantasy, and some of their games have been published by Sony or Microsoft). It is best known for the Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden series.
On June 3, 2008, Tomonobu Itagaki announced that he was leaving Tecmo and Team Ninja, citing difficulties with Tecmo. In the same statement announcing his resignation, Itagaki also announced that he was filing a lawsuit against his former employer, Yoshimi Yasuda, over unpaid bonuses for his work on Dead or Alive 4. When Itagaki left Tecmo, most of his colleagues and fellow Team Ninja members left with him to form Valhalla Game Studios.
The role of Team Ninja leader was taken over by Yosuke Hayashi from 2010–2022, then by Fumihiko Yasuda as of 2022, following Hayashi's promotion to the main company's general manager of its entertainment division.
Games[]
- Dead or Alive
- Arcade version - November 26, 1996
- Sega Saturn version - October 8, 1997
- PlayStation version - March 12, 1998
- Dead or Alive++ - October 16, 1998
- Dead or Alive 2
- Arcade version - October 16, 1999
- Millennium Edition - January 18, 2000
- Sega Dreamcast version - February 29, 2000
- PlayStation 2 - March 30, 2000
- Hardcore version - October 25, 2000
- Hard*Core - (PlayStation 2) December 14, 2000
- Dead or Alive 3 (Xbox) - November 15, 2001
- Japanese/3.1 version - February 22, 2002
- European/3.2 version - March 14, 2002
- Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball (Xbox) - January 23, 2003
- Ninja Gaiden (Xbox) - March 2, 2004
- Dead or Alive Ultimate (Xbox) - October 26, 2004
- Ninja Gaiden Black (Xbox) - September 20, 2005
- Dead or Alive 4 (Xbox 360) - December 29, 2005
- Dead or Alive Xtreme 2 (Xbox 360) - November 15, 2006
- Ninja Gaiden Sigma (PlayStation 3) - June 14, 2007
- Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus (PlayStation Vita) - June 14, 2007
- Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (Nintendo DS) - March 20, 2008
- Ninja Gaiden II (Xbox 360) - June 3, 2008
- Dead or Alive Online (PC) - December 2008
- Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 (PlayStation 3) - September 29, 2009
- Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus (PlayStation Vita) - June 14, 2007
- Dead or Alive Paradise (PlayStation Portable) - March 30, 2010
- Metroid: Other M (Wii) - August 31, 2010
- Dead or Alive: Dimensions (Nintendo 3DS) - May 19, 2011
- Ninja Gaiden 3 (PlayStation 3, Wii U and Xbox 360) - March 20, 2012
- Ninja Gaiden 3: Razors's Edge (PlayStation 3, Wii U and Xbox 360) - November 18, 2012
- Ninja Gaiden Clans (Android, iOS) - September 20, 2012
- Dead or Alive 5 (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360) - September 25, 2012
- Dead or Alive 5+ (PlayStation Vita) - March 19, 2013
- Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360) - September 3, 2013
- Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate Arcade - December 24, 2013
- Dead or Alive 5 Last Round (PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One) - February 17, 2015
- Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z (PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360) - February 24, 2014
- Hyrule Warriors (Wii U) - September 26, 2014
- Dissidia Final Fantasy NT (PC and PlayStation 4) - November 26, 2015
- Dead or Alive Xtreme 3
- Dead or Alive Xtreme 3: Fortune (PlayStation 4) - March 24, 2016
- Dead or Alive Xtreme 3: Venus (PlayStation Vita) - March 24, 2016
- Dead or Alive Xtreme 3: Scarlet (Nintendo Switch) - March 20, 2019
- Nioh (PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5) - February 7, 2017
- Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation (DMM, PC) - November 15, 2017
- Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia (Android and iOS) - February 1, 2017
- Fire Emblem Warriors (New Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Switch) - September 28, 2017
- Dead or Alive 6 (PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) - March 1, 2019
- Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order (Nintendo Switch) - July 19, 2019
- Nioh 2 (PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5) - March 12, 2020
- Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection (PC, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One) - June 10, 2021
- Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin (PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S) - March 18, 2022
- Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S) - March 3, 2023
- Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy & the Liberator of Polar Night (Andriod, iOS and PC) - September 23, 2023
- Rise of the Ronin (PlayStation 5) - March 22, 2024
Cancelled games[]
- Dead or Alive: Code Chronos
- Project Progressive
- Ninja Gaiden 3DS
Trivia[]
- Ninja Gaiden II was published by Microsoft Game Studios, making it the first game created by Team Ninja not published by Tecmo.
External links[]
- Team Ninja portal page
- Team Ninja Studio YouTube Channel
- @TeamNINJAStudio on Twitter
- Team Ninja (IGN website)
v · e · d Personnel
| |
---|---|
Studios and Publishers | |
Koei Tecmo • Team Ninja • Tecmo Sega | |
Directors and Producers | |
Current | Yosuke Hayashi • Yohei Shimbori |
Former | Tomonobu Itagaki |
Sound and Music | |
Current | Makoto Hosoi |
Former | Kazuhiko Inaba • Takafumi Inamori • Ryo Koike • Shigekiyo Okuda • Hideyuki Suzuki |