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During the leadup to its January Developer Direct, Xbox teased that a "brand new game" from a studio at a "surprise location" would be revealed at the showcase. It turns out that nobody saw the surprise coming, as we're getting a mainline sequel in the Ninja Gaiden, the long-running series of action games.
Ninja Gaiden 4 Coming Fall 2025
Ninja Gaiden 4 is in the works from developer Team Ninja and PlatinumGames, the first new game in the franchise since Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z in 2014. Technically, we also have Ninja Gaiden Ragebound, a 2D beat-em-up spinoff, coming from Dotemu that was announced at The Game Awards, but this is different.
As Xbox says in its blog post, the year of Ninja has commenced!
"Fans have long been asking us for a new NINJA GAIDEN game," said Fumihiko Yasuda, head of Team NINJA. "Koei Tecmo's President, Hisashi Koinuma, and PlatinumGames' CEO, Atsushi Inaba, share a close relationship, which led us to explore a collaborative development effort. PlatinumGames had the expertise we felt was ideal for working on NINJA GAIDEN, and with support from Microsoft's Phil-san [Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming], the three companies were able to take the next step towards creating a brand-new NINJA GAIDEN."
The sequel will star a new protagonist, Yakumo, but Yuji Nakao, director at PlatinumGames says that "Ryu Hayabusa plays a significant role in the story". It's not just in cutscenes, as Ryu will be playable throughout the game. Ninja Gaiden 4 will take place in a cyberpunk Tokyo city.
Ninja Gaiden 2 Black Released Today
Team Ninja is also developing a remaster of the second game in the series, Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, built in Unreal Engine 5. Here's the kicker: You can play Ninja Gaiden 2 Black today through Game Pass.
"This simultaneous announcement and same-day release alongside NINJA GAIDEN 4 might have caught some people by surprise," said Yasuda. "The biggest reason for developing NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black was to address the concerns of core fans who might be wondering, 'What's going to happen to Ryu Hayabusa?' We also wanted to give players something to enjoy as they wait for the release of NINJA GAIDEN 4. We chose NINJA GAIDEN 2 because it stands as one of the most solid action games in the series. We added 'Black' to the title to signal to fans that this is the definitive version, much like NINJA GAIDEN Black was for the first game."
Ninja Gaiden 4 will be released in Fall 2025 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. The game will also be available on day one on PC Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate.
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