- Koei Tecmo has lowered its operating income forecasts for the current Fiscal Year by 28%.
- The gaming giant cites low software sales, missing sales targets by $70 million.
- Rise of the Ronin was launched in this Fiscal Year, so the game seems to have vastly underperformed.
Rise of the Ronin launched after much excitement last month. However, with mixed reviews and varying opinions about the overall production values, the game appears to have underperformed.
While Koei Tecmo, Team Ninja’s parent company, has yet to share official sales data, the studio has just lowered its revenue forecast for the Fiscal Year ending March 2024.
The company points to lower-than-expected software sales as one major reason for the changed forecast.
Why it matters: A single major release can often completely transform revenue forecasts and financial reports. However, Team Ninja and Koei Tecmo’s big bet on Rise of the Ronin appears to have failed.
Less than one full month after Rise of the Ronin launched, Koei Tecmo has changed its revenue forecast.
In a recent notice, the studio has dropped its sales projections by 11%, while expected operating income is down by a whopping 28%. According to the document, software sales are falling short of previous expectations by around $70 million.
Though Koei Tecmo has a number of games under its belt, Rise of the Ronin was the publisher’s biggest launch. It hoped to sell 5 million copies, setting an ambitious target from the beginning.
While Rise of the Ronin launched at the very end of the March 2024 Fiscal Year, Koei Tecmo likely expected a major splash at launch. It is not rare for games to sell 3-5 million units in their first two weeks, with last month’s Dragon’s Dogma 2 moving 2.5 million units in 10 days.
However, the studio has failed to find a similar level of buzz.
Interestingly, Rise of the Ronin appears to be doing better than expected in Japan. Perhaps the game’s sales will pick up in the coming months.
The game certainly excels in multiple areas, but it fails to impress as a complete package. Perhaps Team Ninja will look toward established IPs to improve its financial status in the future.
The Souls-like genre is thriving today, so it may not be a bad idea to revisit Nioh.
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[News Reporter]
Avinash is currently pursuing a Business degree in Australia. For more than three years, he has been working as a gaming journalist, utilizing his writing skills and love for gaming to report on the latest updates in the industry. Avinash loves to play action games like Devil May Cry and has also been mentioned on highly regarded websites, such as IGN, GamesRadar, GameRant, Dualshockers, CBR, and Gamespot.
