Touken Ranbu Warriors may not have told you much before its announcement. Neither did it the author! Yet Touken Ranbu certainly had a fanbase in the West up until that point.
What Touken Ranbu Warriors is, why it’s so successful in Japan and what we can look forward to, we discuss with Mei Erikawa (General Producer of Touken Ranbu Warriors, Ruby Party) as well as Tomohiko Sho (Producer, Omega Force), and Osamu Mieda (Director, Omega Force).
Touken Ranbu -ONLINE- started as a free-to-play game and became very popular in Japan. It also inspired two anime, and the launch of Touken Ranbu Warriors in Japan was very successful. It has replaced Pokémon Legends: Arceus from #1 on the Famitsu charts when it was released! Congratulations. Are you happy with the sales figures? Did you expect such a strong start?
Erikawa-san: “Yes, I did believe that we could take the top spot on that week! We also made the game with the intention of it making the top spot, so that is something that we had aimed for and had planned on doing. I think in terms of the numbers of units, that is something that we would still like to expand upon and hit more sales figures. By being able to sell more, I think that it will allow us to consider moving forward with more titles in the series – so, I think now with the Western release coming up, we would like to continue working on getting more people interested in the game and picking up the game. We do think that it is off to a good start and we hope that the momentum will continue, especially with the upcoming Western release.”
„One thing that we were very glad to hear was that fans of Touken Ranbu enjoyed the game, and we didn’t hear any negative feedback about it not being the game they wanted! We received a lot of positive feedback, a lot more than we had anticipated. It is nice to know that this is something that fans of the IP loved and enjoyed.“
I was trying to figure out what made Touken Ranbu so popular in Japan. I came across the rekijo. They love Japanese history and historical weapons. That’s very interesting. In the West, you probably can’t count on a big amount of such fans. What makes Touken Ranbu Warriors interesting beyond that? The many characters seem to me to have interesting personalities.
Sho-san: “Yes, we definitely know that there aren’t the rekijo in the West, so that’s not something we were counting on, but instead we put our focus on fans of Japanese animations, fans that love the attractive male characters, and not just attractiveness based on looks but also in terms of the personality as well. We think that these fans will enjoy the game! The story is based on the Sengoku-era (the Warring States era of Japanese history), which is a very appealing era of Japanese history and there’s a lot to tell there, so it’s an attractive period and I think that this really adds to the game as well.
Despite it being based on history, you don’t need any previous historical knowledge to get into this game; it’s something that players will be able to enjoy without having either previous knowledge of Touken Ranbu or the Sengoku-era. It’s something that everyone can enjoy!”
Mieda-san: “We made sure that the story is something that people who don’t know anything about the original Touken Ranbu IP will be able to enjoy, so we really paid a lot of attention to making sure that the story is something that everyone can enjoy. The story also features some historical figures in it, so those people who might know the history might find that aspect enjoyable as well.“
I was honestly very surprised when Touken Ranbu Warriors was also announced for the West as soon as it was first announced. The mobile game and the anime have also been released in English, so there is a certain fanbase. But it’s not as huge as in Japan, or am I wrong? What is your goal with Touken Ranbu Warriors in the West? What else do you have planned for Touken Ranbu in general?
Sho-san: “You mention ‚The mobile game and the anime have also been released in English, so there is a certain fanbase. But it’s not as huge as in Japan, or am I wrong?‘ in your question, and you are correct and are on the right track here. We know that Touken Ranbu is not as huge in the West as it is in Japan. Working with NITROPLUS and EXNOA, they really wanted to have the Touken Ranbu IP expand into the Western market as an action game, so there is interest from their side, and from our side (KOEI TECMO) we are using the Touken Ranbu IP for the first time and thought that we would see if we could attract a new fanbase, including fans of the IP, so that’s something that we found really attractive – becoming one of our goals when releasing the game.
As for what else we have planned for Touken Ranbu, on our side we have nothing planned at this point and in terms of the IP in general we cannot speak on behalf of NITROPLUS.”
There was a playable demo in Japan. Will it also be released in the West before the full version is released?
Sho-san: “Yes, we will be releasing the demo in the West. Please look forward to it!” [The demo was announced today and is now available on Switch and Steam.]
In Japan, there is a PC release in addition to the Switch version. Why are you forgoing that in the west? And why did you choose Nintendo Switch? In Japan, the Nintendo Switch is obviously the most popular console. But could Touken Ranbu Warriors still be released for PlayStation as well?
Sho-san: “We will be releasing a PC (Steam) version in the West! It is set to launch alongside the Nintendo Switch version on the 24th May 2022. In terms of PlayStation, we have no plans for this platform.” [They just announced the Steam version today.]
Tomohiko Sho, you already have a lot of experience with Musou games. It’s a hypothetical, personal question. What other brand can you imagine as a Musou game, what would you most like to work on?
Sho-san: “Based on this being a personal question, there are a lot of appealing IP to work with… but, I would like to work on a Three Kingdoms game! DYNASTY WARRIORS 9 is the most recent game of the series, but I would like to go back to the roots of the game and really have something that people can experience the Three Kingdoms era through. Especially now with the advancements in technology and the new hardware, I think that we could make something great. So that’s an IP/brand I would like to work on!”
Mei Erikawa, Tomohiko Sho, I wish you all the best for the launch of Touken Ranbu Warriors in the West!
Erikawa-san & Sho-san: “Thank you very much for your support, and we hope that you enjoy the game! We will do our best with future games as well. Thank you!”
Bildmaterial: Touken Ranbu Warriors, Koei Tecmo, DMM Games, Nitroplus, Ruby Party, Omega Force
0 Kommentare