Ninja Gaiden 4

Ninja Gaiden 4 is an upcoming action-adventure game co-developed by Team Ninja and PlatinumGames, and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is the seventh mainline game in Koei Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden series, and the direct sequel to Ninja Gaiden 3 (2012). The game primarily follows a new character named Yakumo, though series' protagonist Ryu Hayabusa is also playable and has a significant role in the story. Ninja Gaiden 4 is set to be released worldwide for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on October 21, 2025.

Ninja Gaiden 4
Developer(s)	Team Ninja PlatinumGames
Publisher(s)	Xbox Game Studios
Director(s)	Masakazu Hirayama Yuji Nakao
Producer(s)	Fumihiko Yasuda Yuji Nakao
Artist(s)	Tomoko Nishii
Series	Ninja Gaiden
Platform(s)	PlayStation 5 Windows Xbox Series X/S
Release	October 21, 2025
Genre(s)	Action-adventure, hack and slash
Mode(s)	Single-player

Overview

Ninja Gaiden 4 takes place after Ninja Gaiden 3 in a near-future Tokyo, that was plunged into chaos by the return of the Dark Dragon, a malevolent entity behind the Dark Dragon Blade from Ninja Gaiden (2004), and main antagonist of Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword (2008). Under the influence of the Underworld, the city takes in a rainy cyberpunk-like aesthetic. According to the director, these unsettling conditions add to the game's core themes and the key concept of "adversity".^[1]

A new protagonist, Yakumo, was introduced to make the game approachable to new players. He fights using "Bloodraven Form", a technique that manipulates his blood and blood of the enemies to create powerful weapons that strike down many foes at once. Ryu Hayabusa serves as a "major challenge and growth milestone" for Yakumo, while also being playable throughout the story, utilizing similar moveset and tools to his earlier appearances. Some of the series' signature moves, such as Izuna Drop and Flying Swallow, are available to both characters.^[1]

Development

The series developer, Team Ninja, wanted to bring Ninja Gaiden back amidst the growing gap since the last mainline installment and fan requests. As a result of a close relationship between the president of Koei Tecmo, Hisashi Koinuma, and the CEO of PlatinumGames, Atsushi Inaba, the two companies began exploring collaboration possibilities. With the support from Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, they started work on a brand new Ninja Gaiden title.^[2]

The game was produced by the head of Team Ninja and co-director of Ninja Gaiden 3, Fumihiko Yasuda, and PlatinumGames' Yuji Nakao. Nakao also directed the title together with Team Ninja's Masakazu Hirayama.^[2] Xbox Game Studios entered a partnership with Koei Tecmo, the owner of Ninja Gaiden IP, to publish the game worldwide. The company previously released Ninja Gaiden II (2008) for Xbox 360 and worked with PlatinumGames on the cancelled action role-playing game Scalebound.^[3]

Release

Ninja Gaiden 4 was announced alongside Ninja Gaiden 2 Black during the Xbox Developer Direct video presentation on January 23, 2025.^[4] It is scheduled to release on the 21st October in 2025 for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S, and will be included with the Xbox Game Pass subscription from day one.^[5]