Founding, Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden (1995–2009)

Team Ninja was formed by Tomonobu Itagaki from a group of game designers working at Tecmo specifically for the purpose of creating the home versions of the fighting game series Dead or Alive.^[1] During the mid-1990s, Japanese gaming company Tecmo was in financial trouble. Seeing how popular Sega's Virtua Fighter series was in Japan at the time, the management asked Tomonobu Itagaki to create a game similar to Virtua Fighter.^[2] In order to stand out from other fighting games, Team Ninja focused on making Dead or Alive provocative. Itagaki believed that violence and eroticism were needed for "true entertainment".^[3]

In 1999, Team Ninja started work on a new Ninja Gaiden project, originally intended for arcades, later for the Dreamcast. Due to Sega exiting the console business, development was moved to the PlayStation 2.^[4][5]

Dead or Alive Ultimate being shown at TGS 2004 at the Xbox booth

However, due to Itagaki being impressed by the technological capabilities of the new Xbox from Microsoft, development was moved to that platform. Ninja Gaiden would be released in 2004 to rave critical acclaim.^[6][7][8]

In 2008, the action-adventure game Ninja Gaiden II for the Xbox 360 was published by Microsoft Game Studios, making it the first game created by Team Ninja to not be published by Tecmo; Tecmo Koei later released an enhanced version of Ninja Gaiden II on the PlayStation 3 as Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2.

Merger with Koei (2009–2013)

In 2009, it was announced that Tecmo and Koei would be merging.^[9] The newly founded Koei Tecmo would officially disband Tecmo in 2010.^[10][11] A year later all of Tecmo's assets were absorbed into Koei Tecmo, including IP and its subsidiaries and divisions. Team Ninja would continue as subsidiary of Koei Tecmo.^[12]

Team Ninja collaborated on multiple titles with Nintendo. In 2010, Team Ninja co-developed a new Metroid action-adventure game for Nintendo's Wii console, titled Metroid: Other M. A playable Stage from Other M would appear in the Nintendo 3DS game Dead or Alive: Dimensions, which was published by Nintendo in Europe and Australia. Team Ninja would in 2014 also collaborate with Omega Force on the development of Hyrule Warriors, an action game set in The Legend of Zelda universe, and with SEGA AM2 since 2012's Dead or Alive 5, co-developing an Arcade version of the title, as well as on bringing characters from Virtua Fighter to Dead or Alive.

Restructuring and Nioh (2013–present)

In 2013, following a reconstructing of Koei Tecmo, Team Ninja would cease to exist internally, being renamed Koei Tecmo Ichigaya, with Yosuke Hayashi subsequently becoming Head of the Ichigaya Development Group.^[13] The developer was also split into two distinct development teams, one led by Ninja Gaiden Sigma director Yosuke Hayashi and one led by Fatal Frame producer Keisuke Kikuchi.^[14] Further restructuring at Koei Tecmo in 2016 resulted in Team Tachyon, the developers behind Quantum Theory as well as Rygar: The Battle of Argus being shut down. A large amount of developers were moved to Team Ninja.^[15]

Team Ninja's booth at TGS 2017

In 2017, Team Ninja released their new action role-playing game Nioh to great critical response.^[16][17] Nioh originally started development in 2004 at Koei, and was moved between multiple developers, such as Omega Force, before Koei approached Team Ninja after the merger in 2010 to help develop the game.^[18] When first presented with the project by Koei, Team Ninja staff were skeptic about the game's concept, citing the western protagonist in Sengoku-era Japan, as well as various mechanics.^[18] Despite these uncertainties, development was fully transferred to Team Ninja in 2012.^[19][18][20] The title would go on to receive multiple awards,^{[21][22][23][24]} and became Team Ninja's best-selling title.^[25] They released Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order for the Nintendo Switch in 2019 as well as Dead or Alive 6. Team Ninja released the prequel to Nioh, Nioh 2, in March 2020. A compilation of Ninja Gaiden series, dubbed Ninja Gaiden: Master Collection, released in June 2021. Team Ninja also developed Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, which released in 2022.^[26]

As of 2022, Yosuke Hayashi had left Team Ninja to serve as the general manager of Koei Tecmo's entertainment division,^[27] with Fumihiko Yasuda replacing him as president.^[28] Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty was announced the same year, being produced by Team Ninja lead Fumihiko Yasuda, who led the development on Nioh and Nioh 2, as well as Masaaki Yamagiwa. Yamagiwa, who joined Team Ninja in 2021 after the closure of Sony's Japan Studio, was previously producer on Bloodborne.^[29][30] It released in 2023.

Depiction of Women

Team Ninja's provocative style, originally coined by Itagaki,^[3] while often having been praised, with Dead or Alive's Kasumi being regarded as a modern-day sex symbol,^[36][37] with MTV UK labeling her as one of the sexiest characters in video games,^[38] has been criticised for objectifying women.^[39][40] In a 2012 Interview with Kotaku, Yosuke Hayashi said that Team Ninja was "very misinterpreted" outside of Japan, and that there's no derogatory intention in their creation process. "We can't help if other cultures in other countries around the globe think that it's a bad representation", so Hayashi.^[41] In 2016, Team Ninja garnered public attention after their decision to not release Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 in North America or Europe, reigniting a controversy within the video game industry about the sexualised portrayal of female characters within their games.^[40][42][43] Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony Interactive Entertainment at the time, said in a statement; "It's due to cultural differences. The West has its own thinking about how to depict women in games media which is different from Japan."^[44]

Excessive Violence in Ninja Gaiden II

In 2008, the German Rating Board USK refused classification for Ninja Gaiden II, banning the game for sale in Germany, due to the title's excessive violence. The game's publisher, Microsoft, had no interest in releasing a compromised, cut version of the game.^[45] This would later affect the development of the PlayStation 3 version, dubbed Sigma 2, as the game's violence was significantly toned down.^[46] Sigma 2 received classification in Germany.^[47]

Dead or Alive: Dimensions ban in Sweden and Australia

In 2011, Dead or Alive: Dimensions was banned in Sweden, due to the rating board determining that the characters appeared too young.^[48] Due to Sweden's ban on the title, Australian politician Brendan O'Connor urged the Australian Classification Board to reexamine the title, resulting in the game getting its classification revoked and being removed from sale. Nintendo, the publisher of the game in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, stated that Dead or Alive Dimensions contained no objectionable content and resubmitted the game. The classification was reinstated shortly thereafter.^[49][50]

EVO Japan 2019 shutdown

In 2019, Team Ninja gained controversy, due to a livestream of Dead or Alive 6 at Evo Japan 2019 featuring gravure idols. The livestream was forcibly shut-down by the Evolution Championship Series. Co-founder and CEO of Evo, Joey Cuellar, cited the stream being too explicit, and that it would go against the core values of the Esports organiser.^[51][52][53] The Evo board later removed Joey Cuellar in 2020 as a controversy emerged where charges of sexual abuse were leveled at Cuellar for preying on young boys during the 1990s and 2000s, resulting in the cancellation of Evo 2020.^[54]

Cancelled games

• Dead or Alive: Code Chronos - A prequel to the Dead or Alive series, which was going to focus on the backstory of Kasumi and Ayane, and reportedly was not going to be a fighting game. It was cancelled in November 2010.^[56]
• Project Progressive - A project that was originally planned for the Xbox, but its development moved to the Xbox 360. It was cancelled in November 2010.^[56]
• Ninja Gaiden 3DS - A Nintendo 3DS project announced by Team Ninja in 2011.^[57] It was quietly cancelled at a later date.^[58]